A White Knight, A Cheerleader & 4,398 Other People
by Starway Man
Summary: Two of the Slayerettes disappear, during 1998 and 1999. What happens when they return as members of The 4400, during 2004? [COMPLETE]
1. The Seeds Of Yesterday

**Date written**: Sun 6 November 2005

**Author**: Starway Man

**E-mail**: theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au

**Disclaimer**: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, Fox, WB and UPN. The 4400 and other related entities are owned by Scott Peters, René Echevarria, American Zoetrope and Renegade 83 in association with Paramount and Viacom Productions, Inc. Some of the text is from the various TV episodes, and so does not belong to me of course.

**Rating**: R

**Warnings**: Some violence, sexual references, attempted assault and character death is present. Plus there are spoilers for just about everything with regard to the Buffy and Angel shows, and up to the end of season 1 of The 4400.

**Main characters**: Xander, Cordelia, ensemble

**Acknowledgments**: Thanks to ScifiGate and Buffyworld for housing the various TV show transcripts, that were used in the writing this story. Also, many thanks to my beta readers Greywizard1235 and Nodakskip! This couldn't have been done without your fantastic help.

**Classification**: Action-Adventure, Angst, Crossover, Alternate Universe

**Summary**: Two of the Slayerettes disappear, during 1998 and 1999. What happens when they return as members of The 4400, during 2004?

**Title**:A White Knight, A Cheerleader And 4,398 Other People

* * *

"The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf, the lion and the fatling together, and the little child to lead them."

(Rupert Giles, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER)

"Lord, the world sure has changed since we've been gone."

(Richard Tyler, THE 4400)

"Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children."

(Jules Winfield, PULP FICTION)

* * *

**Part I:** The Seeds Of Yesterday

**Location unknown. Far into the future**

It was a magic spell like no other, a unique combination of technology and the supernatural. And once it was cast, it started travelling backwards through time and space. It sent its thread-like filaments throughout the ocean of history, as it sought out its targets...

The people who could prevent The Catastrophe from ever happening. A catastrophe that meant oblivion for the entire human race.

The spell found 4,398 candidates that fulfilled its creators' specifications, and the white light quickly sucked them away to the future. To be...altered...and later seeded back into the timeline, to prevent humanity from becoming nothing but a memory.

When it came to the last two people selected by the future humans though the situation was...somewhat different. Because these two were also part of another group, one destined to really make an impact on the fate of the world.

And on account of that, both the male and the female teenagers in question had been earmarked by the Powers That Be to live short lives containing lots of angst, pain and misery – as part of their so-called 'big picture', already.

* * *

**Sunnydale, California. September 16th, 1998**

Cordelia Chase. A 17-year-old brunette senior, at Sunnydale High. A cheerleader and former May Queen, too.

Tactless, rich, beautiful and canny beyond her years, any sociologist would have told you that Ms. Chase was on the fast track in life towards success and power. But unfortunately, all that had changed...the moment she had met Buffy the Vampire Slayer, back in sophomore year.

( _Well, guess it's official,_ ) Cordy thought to herself with a mental shrug, as she drove along towards the Chase manor. ( _Buffy Summers really is back in town now, because the freakiness has definitely started up all over again._.. )

It was the night of what Daniel 'Oz' Osborne had called the 'Dead Man's Party' at Buffy's house, located at 1630 Revello Drive. The welcome back celebration for the blonde Chosen One (who had left town back in May) had been marred by the appearance of a number of human zombies, thanks to the mask of Ovu Mobani, as well as the Slayer's very public arguments with her mother and friends...

But despite the traditional heart-stopping fear and terror, for the first time since coming back from summer vacation – Cordelia had truly felt ALIVE again.

And it hadn't hurt that her boyfriend had demonstrated his new talent as a very decent kisser tonight at the party, either...

Thinking about Xander Harris as she arrived at the main gates, Cordelia grinned to herself. ( _The big dummy's never gonna change, I bet. Throwing himself at those zombies that way tonight, to protect me and everyone else! I KNEW that there was a reason why I love him..._ )

But hard on the heels of that thought, Queen C gasped to herself in horror. ( _Oh no! Oh, NO! Did I actually just think that? Dear Lord, it couldn't be. Oh my God – how the hell did I ever fall in love with the incredibly lame loser that I'd been fighting with, ever since kindergarten!_ )

Cordelia switched off the car's ignition, and just sat there for a while – deep in thought. ( _Okay, this is serious. In fact, this is BEYOND serious! I need to talk to someone about this. But who? My parents? No way, they hate Xander. Harmony and the others? They'll just laugh in my face! Buffy and Willow? Forget it, they're his friends – not mine. Giles? Please – he's too old and stuffy, not to mention British as. So then, who?_ )

The Chase girl still didn't have an answer to her question, as she slowly got out of the car to clear her head. But she didn't get the opportunity to ponder it any further, as a white light appeared from up above...

Cordelia dropped her car keys, looked upwards – and then disappeared.

A short while later, a waft of black smoke appeared briefly – and then appeared to coalesce into the form of a heavily-armoured silver demon, named Skip. He looked around in confusion, "Well, crap. Cordelia Chase, where the hell are you?"

Disappearing again, the demon mercenary could find no trace anywhere of the human female – who had been chosen to give birth to his employer, the entity that would be named Jasmine, about five years down the line. It was like the earth had swallowed Cordelia whole.

So Skip just eventually shrugged to himself, ( _Oh well, guess the boss will simply have to find some other dumb broad to use and abuse with those visions..._ )

**

* * *

**

Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California. February 1st, 1999

Alexander Lavelle Harris. An 18-year-old senior at Sunnydale High. Someone who ever since the days of Little League, had been too much of a jock to fit in with the school geeks – and yet, at the same time, someone considered far too much of a dork to ever hang out with the cool crowd.

An outsider then in every sense of the word, Xander was nonetheless a loyal soldier and friend – and someone who, even as a teenager, had sworn to do whatever he had to...if it was ever necessary to save the world.

It had been a long and difficult five months for him, ever since Cordelia had disappeared. Because her parents had thought Xander was totally responsible for that occurrence, which hadn't surprised the boy like at all...

Mr. and Mrs. Chase had tried everything they could think of to prove it, too. Hell, that duo had even hired a corrupt cop to beat a confession out of Harris one night, even though that hadn't worked out AT ALL like they'd hoped.

Plus, there was the fact that Xander's old man had similarly been sure that his good-for-nothing son had gotten the rich bitch pregnant, and when she'd told him – the kid had quietly buried her out in the desert somewhere.

Well, whatever. Xander had still called the cops every day for a month, after his girlfriend had vanished. He had hoped and prayed that there was an explanation for all this, besides the obvious Hellmouth-y one; but there had been nothing to indicate that.

No ransom note, no deep throat telephone call, not a blessed thing. And now, after all these months, it seemed pretty obvious that Cordelia Chase was either dead...or worse. And at times, Xander wondered what he would do if he ever encountered Vamp Cordelia in a dark alley somewhere. But tonight, the so-called Zeppo knew he had to focus on the present, rather than contemplate that unpleasant future...

In the boiler room of the high school, the zombie named Dickie put the final touches on a bomb that he and his buddies Parker, Bob and Jack O'Toole had decided to set up, in order to 'bake a cake'. Granted it was a relatively crude instrument of death, but it was nonetheless an effective one.

Assembled on top of an oil barrel, Dickie plugged in the timer to the rest of the apparatus, and quickly switched it on. "Whoo!"

He then tapped the keys, and set it for sixty minutes. As Dickie plugged in the last wire, the countdown started; and the zombie squad all chuckled under their breaths.

Jack walked up to the bomb and checked it all out himself before saying, "This is gonna be large!"

Parker responded, "Oh, yeah!"

Dickie checked the wiring once more, as they all laughed again. But then the laughter stopped as a male voice said, "So this is what you guys do for fun, huh?"

The four zombies whirled around, but O'Toole quickly relaxed. It was only Xander Harris, a loser he'd seen on campus and at the Bronze earlier tonight. "What are you doing here, Harris? Last I heard, you were too busy hiding from your dead girlfriend's parents to-"

What happened next, totally astounded the zombie hooligan. Xander raised a shotgun he'd appropriated tonight from a police car and opened fire three times in quick succession, disintegrating the heads of Jack's rotting companions – Dickie, Parker and Bob all collapsing into dust.

"You motherfu-" O'Toole instantly snarled, instinctively reaching behind his back for his knife named 'Katie'.

"Hands where I can see them. And you might wanna try not calling me names – least, not while I'm aiming the twelve-gauge at your head like this, Jack."

O'Toole let the insult die on his lips. "Just so you know – I'm gonna carve you up and serve you with gravy for this, Harris. You pissed me off, boy! Now you're gonna pay the price. First the eyes, then the tongue. Then I'm gonna break every one of your fingers-"

"Blah, blah, blah," Xander interrupted in a bored tone of voice. "Spare me the big speech, O'Toole, I've heard it all before – and from someone way more dangerous than you! Now, we can either stay here till the bomb goes off, or you can disarm it before you die-"

O'Toole boasted without thinking, "Hey, I'm not afraid to die Harris. Because I'm already dead!" He lifted up his shirt, "Drive-by three weeks ago-"

The Slayerette just raised his eyebrows, and Jack suddenly realized his mistake – by claiming to be one of the monsters, the zombie had obviously lost all rights to human charity in Xander's mind. "Then either you do what I say, or I REALLY hope you like the quiet..."

Just before Harris squeezed the trigger, O'Toole caved like the cowardly bully he basically was. "Okay! Okay..." He then pulled a wire, as the timer went blank. "Satisfied?"

"No. Take it apart – slowly. Then throw the main circuit board to the floor, close to my feet."

Jack growled incoherently, but did as he was told as Xander stomped down hard on the thin wafer of plastic; and both boys knew that from now on, the bomb was just basically a big paperweight.

"So what now?" the amateur psychopath who had repeated senior year three times demanded.

Incredibly, Xander just smiled. "I'd say you've earned yourself a ten second head start..."

O'Toole's eyes widened in disbelief, but then he just ran out the basement door. As he'd promised, Xander waited a few moments and then followed the dead thing; but to his amusement, he eventually discovered Jack being ripped apart by three of the Sisterhood of Jhe demons that had apparently infested the school tonight.

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy..."

Noticing the Hellmouth had been sealed again and the Scooby Gang didn't need his help, Xander then just walked out of the school's back door to his Uncle Rory's car, and stowed the shotgun into the trunk. The night's adventures had definitely done wonders for his confidence and self-esteem as the male teenager thought to himself, ( _Hmmm, guess I done good all by my lonesome-ness. Maybe I WILL ask Faith out on a date tomorrow night, at that..._ )

But that was not to be, for just as young Mr. Harris got into the driver's seat – a brilliant light appeared from up above. Xander just looked up in surprise, as the light got brighter and its tendrils engulfed him – and then, exactly like Cordelia Chase all those months ago, the Slayerette vanished without a trace.

And so, as the number of abductees in the future finally became complete, plans within plans began to be implemented...

**

* * *

**

Mount Rainier, Washington. August 14th, 2004

The world's population had definitely started panicking, as what appeared to be a large comet suddenly headed for a collision course with Earth.

Because something of that mass travelling at 3,000 kilometers a second, impacting onto the planet's surface? Say good night, guys; the human race was about to go the way of the dinosaurs, and all the survival shelters out there weren't gonna make a damn bit of difference...

And yet, the impossible had happened. The comet had slowed down and was coming in for a landing, as members of the Department of Homeland Security and the press arrived on the mountain in question.

A male reporter said on live national TV, "Come on, get the shot! Get the shot!" just as a ball of light came out of the sky, and began to move along a nearby lake.

The onlookers instantly all stopped and watched as the reporter quickly said, "We're close to the base of Mount Rainier. The ball of light is massive; one hundred, two hundred feet in diameter. Hard to tell – we're going to try to get closer. I can tell you that this is, without a doubt, one of the most incredible sights I've ever seen..."

The ball of light continued to hover, and all of a sudden it began to change shape. Quickly shrinking itself down to almost nothing, the light then suddenly disappeared and there was some kind of explosion; a massive energy burst of some sort was released, which blew all the people present down to the ground.

Back in the TV studio the news anchor quickly demanded, "What's going on!"

The reporter struggled to say, "We're not sure what's just happened. The ball of light is gone-"

Indeed it was. And standing around looking lost were 4400 people, that had been missing and/or presumed dead over the last 60 years.

As the mist accompanying the explosion began to clear, the 8-year-old girl named Maia Rutledge looked around and saw the 18-year-old Xander Harris standing next to her. Both of them looked no different from the moment they had been taken, years ago; just like all the others of their kind.

Almost cringing at the loud colours of the Hawaiian shirt Harris was wearing, Maia simply asked, "What's going on?"

Unfortunately, Xander had no idea what to tell her; a moment ago, it had been nearly midnight in Sunnydale. Now, all around him were thousands of strangers in the pre-dawn twilight, and some of them were dressed in weird clothes; one guy was wearing an honest-to-goodness Scottish kilt, and some black guy with a moustache was in old-fashioned military BDUs...

Trying to focus, he grabbed hold of Maia's hand and said, "I don't know, but don't worry kid; I won't let anything bad happen to you-"

The little blonde girl, who had been the first of the abductees back on March 3rd 1946, simply nodded. "I know you wouldn't, Nighthawk."

Instantly, Harris whipped his head around to stare down at her. "How the hell...?"

Not far away, Cordelia Chase found herself standing next to a blond woman named Lily Moore. "Okay, what kind of freaky Hellmouth craziness is going on now!" the cheerleader demanded without thinking as darkness suddenly became light for her, too.

Lily just looked at her as if the teenage beauty queen had lost her mind. "What?"

"Never mind..." Cordelia said hastily, as she looked around at the huge crowd of people that were now surrounding her. ( _Oh, whatever's going on...I'll bet that this is all Buffy's fault, somehow..._ )

**

* * *

**

Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle, Washington. Later that night

The SP guard was not having a fun evening.

Thousands of bewildered, confused people, some of whom didn't even speak English, had to be processed and logged after appearing out of a ball of light on a nearby mountain? ( _Chris Carter, where are you when we need you?_ )

After finishing up with a guy that really hadn't wanted to go into Quarantine, the guard called out, "Next!"

Xander moved forward, looking around anxiously – he had lost track of Maia in the jostling crowd, and his Hellmouth-honed instincts told him he had to keep an eye on that particular little girl. ( _Where are you, kiddo..._ )

"Name?" the guard asked, not looking up from his computer screen.

Upon receiving no answer, the man got grouchy. "I said, name!"

Xander snapped his head around. "Xander...uh, I mean, Alexander Lavelle Harris..."

"Date of abduction?"

"February 1st, 1999, I guess," Harris replied, still not quite sure what was going on, but having heard the guy before him mention the year 2003. ( _Now this is getting strange, even by Sunnydale standards..._ )

"Place where it happened?"

"Sunnydale, California."

The guard finally looked up in surprise, having heard of that town – which had become California's version of the Grand Canyon last year. "I see..."

"What?" Xander demanded in trepidation.

"Look, fella, I don't have time to answer your questions – as it is, I won't be getting to bed till at least two o'clock in the morning! All I can tell you is that you're now officially Returnee Number 1,218. So do us both a favour and just follow the yellow line to the Quarantine area, okay?"

For a moment, Xander looked like he was about to argue; but then he just gave up and did as he was told. And the guard again called out, "Next!"

A few hours later, the guard was even grumpier than ever. The stress of having to deal with all these bozos had definitely taken its toll on his psyche. "Next!"

A statuesque young woman came up to him, "All right, I've been waiting for hours – now what the hell is going on? Where am I? What's happened to me?"

The guard smothered a groan; this was getting sad. "Name?"

"I'm Cordelia Chase," the brunette girl spat out. "Now what's-"

"Date of abduction?"

"Hey, I wasn't abducted! Do I look to you like one of those losers on TV, that say little grey aliens kidnapped them and did some sort of weird experiments on their asses?" Cordy ranted.

The guard felt a migraine coming on, from this particular returnee. ( _Teenagers..._ ) "What's the date, as far as you're concerned?"

"Last night was September 16th, 1998," the young woman said at once. "Why do you ask?"

"Where were you, right before you showed up at Mount Rainier?" the man deftly avoided her question and trying to hurry this along.

Now Ms. Chase was getting nervous. "Sunnydale, California-"

Instantly, the guard's head shot up to look at Queen C. "Another one?" he murmured, despite himself.

"Another one, what!" Cordelia was getting sick of the non-answers. "Look, mister-"

"Here's your tag, keep it with you – you're now Returnee Number 3,156. Follow the yellow line, all your questions will be answered as soon as possible. All right, next!" the guard shouted out.

**

* * *

**

The new Watchers Council headquarters, London, England. August 15th, 2004

The red-haired witch known as Willow Rosenberg cracked her knuckles with a sentimental chuckle, as she settled down to do some good old-fashioned quality hacking.

The young woman, who had once been Xander Harris's best friend in ancient days, had definitely changed since the guy in question had known her. For she was now one of the most powerful magic users on the planet, as well as a lesbian that had recently ended a relationship with a vampire Slayer named Kennedy – and someone who'd sharpened up her old computer skills, over the last year or so.

Thanks to that painful wake-up call she'd had with everyone learning how incredibly rusty the redhead had gotten by 2003, having to surf the Web like any other civilian – just to try to find out information about the Slayer scythe...

As Willow started to navigate her way past the various firewalls and password protection systems, her mind began to wander slightly. And for the first time in a long while, for some reason – she thought of her old crush, Xander.

The 22-year-old woman wasn't sure why, as she deftly evaded a number of traps in the remote server and finally accessed the government mainframe. Perhaps it was because she wasn't sure what Xander would think of her, if he'd still been around today...

For Willow Rosenberg had committed great evil as well as great good, ever since the boy she'd once loved had dropped off the face of the Earth five years ago.

Finally completing her goal and downloading the information she wanted, the redhead let out a big sigh of relief and expertly covered her tracks, quickly getting out of the Department of Homeland Security's cyber-domain. Willow then quickly printed out a list of the 4400 names that had just been compiled the previous night, and started to scroll through them...

For the Council was VERY concerned over what had happened the previous day, and only the older, wiser heads within the Watchers had been able to prevent a massive contingent of Slayers being sent to Washington to...try to take care of the situation.

Willow looked through the names in alphabetical order, but then her eyes froze on one particular name as she gasped in disbelief. Quickly, on a hunch the witch skipped forward to the 'H' section – and there it was, plain as day.

Hands shaking, almost unable to breathe from the shock, the young woman picked up a phone and dialled an extension known only to a few people. "Giles, it's me, Willow. I got the list – and, and you're not gonna believe this..."

Willow paused, almost unable to believe it herself. "He's still alive, Giles! I mean – Xander's back, he's one of those returnees! Oh, yeah, and Cordelia's one of them too. What do you mean, Cordelia who? Cordelia Chase, of course! Remember her? Because I sure do..."

TBC...


	2. Reunion

See Part 1 for Disclaimer and other information

**

* * *

**

Part II: Reunion

**Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle, Washington. August 17th, 2004**

Two Homeland Security agents named Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris were discussing the situation, as they examined the recorded interviews of their share of the returnees. Diana said musingly of the 4400 people who hadn't aged a day since their abduction, "So for them, no time has passed..."

Tom was a much more results-oriented kind of guy, though. "So between you and me, what do you think happened to them? Where do you think they've been?"

The brunette woman, who was ex-CDC, was naturally unwilling to speculate on something so important with so little data. "I don't know. But there had to have been some kind of intelligence behind it-"

Tom goaded her, "Was it the Hand of God? Or the hands of little grey men?"

"I'm not discounting anything. Here look, here's an interesting one..." Diana said, as an image of Maia appeared on the computer monitor in front of them. "This is Maia Rutledge. She was the first one to disappear, as far as we can tell. And she's eight years old, only she was born in 1938..."

Then the female agent switched screens, and two side-by-side images of Xander and Cordelia appeared. "And, personally, I think these two are even more interesting..."

"Who are they?" Baldwin asked.

"On the left – Cordelia Chase, 17 years old. On the right – her boyfriend Alexander Harris, age 18. They both disappeared from Sunnydale, California; only, he was taken approximately five months after she was, during February 1999-"

The male agent had heard of the town that had turned into a big sinkhole last year, even if he'd been at his comatose son's side for over three years now. "Did you say Sunnydale? As in THE Sunnydale?"

"The one and only. And it seems that Harris had quite a rap sheet back there, according to the Sunnydale PD's records; before he vanished, he was linked to various gangs in that otherwise sleepy little town – ones that apparently liked to get high on PCP, of all things. It also seems that Ms. Chase's parents didn't like him; they blamed Harris for their daughter's disappearance, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if they made his life difficult – before the kid finally disappeared himself," Skouris finished up.

Something was bothering Tom, though. He thought of his son Kyle and his nephew Shawn, and the night his sister's firstborn had been taken whilst the cousins had been alone together at Highland Beach. "I don't get it. Why take the girl first, then the guy months later? Why not just take 'em both at the same time, and be done with it?"

"Who knows?" Diana shrugged, unable to guess of course what had happened with those zombies that night. "But it is interesting to note that as far as we can tell, those two are the only returnees that knew each other, before they all came back..."

"Well, it could be just a statistical coincidence," Tom shrugged.

Diana simply stared at her partner. "I don't believe in coincidences. Statistical or otherwise."

**

* * *

**

The Quarantine Area. The same time

The 4400 returnees were mostly just hanging around, either reading or watching TV or whatever they could think up to do in order to pass the time.

Since, for the past three days, no one had been willing to answer their questions directly. Everything they had learned regarding this strange new world they now found themselves inhabiting, had come from either the idiot box or the various censored magazines they had been supplied with.

Their period clothing had been taken away, and all of The 4400 were now dressed in the same drab yellow shirt and brown trousers issued to them by the government. And oddly enough, Xander found himself really missing his Hawaiian shirt, as he relentlessly looked for Maia.

That little kid wasn't at all like the others in this place; Xander already knew that for sure. The brownish-blonde child was definitely a psychic of some kind, and Harris had the feeling that she'd been successfully avoiding him up until now, in between all the interviews that everyone here had been undergoing.

As Xander reached the centre of the Quarantine area, he heard someone say over the loudspeaker, "Shawn Farrell, report to Interview Room One" and noticed a male teenager head off towards one of the glass booths. The former Slayerette then decided to take a break from the Maia hunt and sat down at the same table a black man was seated at, quickly noticing the copy of 'Time' magazine that the guy was reading.

Which had the cover title, "The 4400: Who Are They?"

Richard Tyler, former captain in the U.S. military and Korean war combat pilot, looked up to glance at the new arrival. Xander said simply, "Hey. Whatcha reading?"

Tyler shook his head. "Stuff I honestly couldn't have ever believed possible, back in 1951..."

Xander winced in sympathy; he knew that for those of The 4400 who had been gone for decades, the year 2004 would be a real culture shock. He guessed he was lucky, well – luckier than most, that he'd only been away for half a decade. "I'm Xander Harris, class of '99..."

He held out his hand, and the black man born in 1922 Missouri shook it after a moment of hesitation; marvelling again at how some attitudes sure had changed, over the last 50 years. "Richard Tyler. Pleased to meet you."

Xander gestured to the magazine, "Anything interesting?"

Tyler shook his head. "Most of it, I still can't wrap my head around. I mean, almost as soon as the war ended in Korea, another one started up in Vietnam? Men actually walked on the moon, during 1969? Then a President nearly got impeached, there was a war in Afghanistan, Operation Desert Storm took place, and yet another war happened in Kosovo? And there's also reference to something three years ago called September 11, whatever the hell that's supposed to be..."

Intrigued at that one, Xander leaned forward to have at look at the story personally; when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and exclaimed, "Maia! I've been looking for you..."

"I know. But I'm not the one you really want to find," the little girl said calmly, staring into Xander's eyes.

"What do ya mean?" Harris asked, confused.

The orphan girl whose parents had died decades ago said nothing; she just took hold of Xander's hand, and led him away to another part of the Quarantine area.

( _If this is some sorta trick..._ ) Xander quickly spotted a young blonde woman talking to a brunette, who had her back to him. He then glanced down at Maia, "Why'd you bring me here?"

"Because this is where you'll find what you've been looking for," she replied simply, before turning around and walking away.

The blonde – Lily Moore – noticed him just standing there, and stopped talking to her companion. And when the dark-haired female turned around to see what all the fuss was about...Xander's heart almost stopped beating.

Because right there in front of him was the one and only Queen C – his girlfriend, Cordelia Chase, live and in person!

For a moment, he just stood there and gaped. Xander Harris couldn't believe that the girl he had been looking for, for nearly five months, was now right in front of him...

For her part, Cordelia just gave a delighted squeal and rushed over to hug him. "Xander! You're here too? So, where the heck have you been for the last three days...?"

Then she stopped, as she noticed the strange stare Harris was giving her. "What? What is it? Why are you looking at me like that, you dweeb?"

The almost-unconscious insult was enough to blast the last fragments of doubts away, within Xander's mind. He was now CERTAIN that this was his girl; no one else knew how to get under his skin like that, in an instant...

"Cordy. It's REALLY you!"

So saying the male Scooby grabbed her tightly, and plunged his lips onto hers with ferocious strength. Cordy was surprised at first; but then both teenagers just furiously started making out, not giving a damn who was watching.

And as Lily figured this was her cue to exit stage left, many of the returnees just stared at the latest bit of excitement to come into their lives.

Because this sure beat watching Barbara Yates on TV, any day of the week...

**

* * *

**

Conference Room, Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle. September 30th, 2004

A meeting was taking place, and Agent Skouris for one couldn't believe what she was hearing. "We're letting them go? They've only been back six weeks. It's too soon!"

Her boss named Dennis Ryland said simply, "Well, the Ninth Circuit court of appeal has upheld the lawsuit by the ACLU on behalf of the families. We don't have a legal right to hold them..."

He didn't know about the covert influence of the Watchers Council in generating that verdict, of course. And as the people gathered started discussing foreigner 4400 repatriation, Ryland said, "Well, wait a minute. We're not kicking anybody out. Whoever wants to stay, can stay. As far as American citizens go, whoever leaves will get whatever assistance is required, to get their life back on track. Medicare, unemployment, rent vouchers, vocational training..."

Diana said at once, full of disbelief, "Vocational training? We need to isolate these people!"

Tom glanced at his partner, somewhat annoyed at her attitude. "They're not virus samples, they're human beings-"

Dennis decided to put an end to the bickering. "The order's been given. We're letting them go."

**

* * *

**

The Quarantine Area. The same time

As the blue steel doors were opened up to finally allow egress to the outside world, the majority of The 4400 eagerly ran for it – to finally escape the cloying confines of their involuntary prison.

The notable exceptions being Maia Rutledge, and Xander Harris.

The little girl sat on a table, as she stared at Xander. Over the last month or so many of the returnees had noted how these two seemed able to almost have entire conversations without talking to one another, but none of them had ever mentioned it to their 'case officers'.

Some things, The 4400 knew instinctively not to talk about.

"It's time for you to go," Maia said suddenly, breaking the silence.

Harris moved so that he was at eye level with the little girl. "No funny remarks about my shirt?"

Maia giggled, despite herself. "No."

"You gonna be okay with the Griffins?" Xander suddenly asked, worried about his young friend's new foster parents.

"Are you gonna be okay without Cordelia?" Maia answered the question with one of her own.

Xander sighed, as those memories weren't fond ones.

It had been a joyous reunion between the two crazy kids at first, as Harris had openly rejoiced at getting his girlfriend back. Granted for Cordy, their five months apart had never existed; and she'd been confused, if appreciative, regarding Xander's happiness...

But things had changed afterwards. They'd had no privacy at all, and the duo's infamous tempers had reasserted themselves. No doubt they'd amused their fellow returnees with their antics, but the point of no return had come – when Xander had been forced to admit that he'd slept with Faith the Vampire Slayer.

Someone the former cheerleader had never even met...

Cordy had been incensed and screamed out, "YOU CHEATED ON ME?" It didn't matter at that moment that to Xander she'd been missing and presumed dead for months, and that it had only happened once; there had been only the stinging sense of betrayal, and Ms. Chase had not been reluctant to let her dumbass boyfriend know how she felt about that at all.

And so Xander had lost all sense of judgement and told the cheerleader how her parents had blamed him for her disappearance, and sent good old Detective Stein around that night – and why.

Unable to believe it, Cordy had instantly slapped his face and told him that they were through, before storming off in the opposite direction.

"I'll live," Xander answered Maia's question, as he focused back on the present. "I still wanna make sure you're going to be okay, though."

Maia reached a tiny hand up, and Harris instantly grabbed it. "Xander?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll be okay, mostly. And you really do have to go. Just...beware of the wolf, ram and hart, once you leave here."

Xander didn't get it. But he didn't have time to ask any more questions, as an SP guard came over and asked him to please move to the disembarkation area, if he was gonna leave Homeland Security today.

Still, as Harris walked off to join the others queuing up to receive their ID cards and other paraphernalia, he risked one final look back...

And Xander almost shivered at the expression on Maia's face, as her eyes sadly tracked him heading for the doors.

**

* * *

**

Department of Homeland Security foyer. Five minutes later

Cordelia fidgeted more than a little with her placard, which contained her ID number. She was somewhat nervous about seeing her parents again, as it had been over six years since they had last talked to each other...

Lily, the returnee who'd had the bed next to hers, came up to the female teen and gave her a comforting smile. "Looking forward to the big reunion?"

"Yeah, I guess," Cordelia replied. "But it's definitely not going to be the same as it once was, I'm sure!" she added with her usual brand of tact.

"Why do you say that?"

Cordelia ticked off the points in order, "I'm still 17, and my parents have lived the last six years without me. So have the rest of my friends! My old hometown is gone, along with all my stuff, not to mention I'm no longer with-" the brunette girl cut herself off, abruptly.

Lily just gave her friend's hand a squeeze. "I'm sure it'll all work out with you and Xander, somehow..."

"What? What makes you think that I still want that, that...DORKHEAD!" Ms. Chase exclaimed heatedly.

"I know all the signs, I AM a wife and mother you know," Lily said with a sly grin. "Brian and I used to drive each other crazy too, sometimes. That's how I know that you still love that guy. And that you want him back..."

Cordy refused to acknowledge that, though. She and Lily then talked for a while longer, before the older woman bade her farewell and walked off to say goodbye to Richard Tyler, who had also become a close friend.

Quite a while later Xander walked up the stairs, long after the Chases had yanked their daughter away from the Federal building in a private limo; for in this world, no IRS audit had stripped them of their riches, thanks to the machinations of Skip and Jasmine.

He started pondering his next move. His parents had disappeared, and no one was sure if they were alive or dead – not that that really mattered all that much to the guy, given the way they'd treated him before he'd disappeared. And Xander had been informed by his contact officer that Willow would be coming to pick him up, but he couldn't see her anywhere in the crowd.

He had no way to know she had been inexplicably delayed by fate, and a flat tire. Regardless of that though, the former class clown had to admit he was a bit nervous; after all, what would Willow be like now, given how over 5 1/2 years had elapsed since that night he'd vanished?

Just like with Richard Tyler, it was still hard for Xander to wrap his head around some concepts. Like the idea that high school was over for the Scooby Gang, and had been for years.

That Willow was now nearly half a decade older than him.

And that according to the calendar, he himself should be 23 years old now...

It made the young man want to scream in righteous anger at those who had abducted him, and the other 4,399 people he had just spent six weeks with. WHY? What possible reason could the Roswell aliens, or whoever the hell was responsible, have had for effectively stealing 4400 lives this way?

As the crowd thinned out even more Xander wandered out the front doors in the general direction of the bus depot, still looking for his red-haired best bud, when all of a sudden – an unmarked van pulled up, and three humanoid-shaped mercenary demons got out to grab the former Scooby.

Richard Tyler was stunned, the black man having spotted his friend in the area – and unable to believe what he was seeing. "Xander?" he called out.

One of the demons instantly started spraying the area with sub-machinegun fire, upon hearing that. Richard dived out of the way, but a nearby Homeland Security agent was hit in the chest – and died instantly, the blood drenching the ground as it streamed out of the bullet-ridden corpse.

Vaguely, Tyler saw Xander getting taken after being knocked out with the butt of one of the weapons. As the van roared away, people nearby started screaming or trying to get under cover; and as a phalanx of agents started pouring out of the Homeland Security building, Richard noticed that they were all armed and appeared eager to shoot at something – or someone.

Survival instincts, ingrained after a lifetime in Missouri where Negro fire-bombings and beatings of the black man were an all-too-common event, served Captain Richard Tyler well. He disappeared down the street as fast as he could, before anyone could get any funny ideas about shooting at him...

**

* * *

**

Conference Room, Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle. An hour later

A meeting was taking place, in the very same room where earlier that day Ryland had announced that the returnees were being let go. "All right, talk to me. What have we got?" Dennis demanded as he strode into the room.

"Returnee Number 1,218; Alexander Lavelle Harris. Apparently got himself shot at and kidnapped, right outside our front door," an Asian man named Chen supplied helpfully.

"The kid's file does mention gang-related incidents. Could be some old enemies of his came looking to settle former grievances," Diana injected.

"Great," Ryland muttered. "What else?"

"Seattle PD is still looking for the van. Whoever did this obviously wasn't going for finesse, so wouldn't surprise me if it was stolen – either today or yesterday," Tom added in his two cents.

"What about the witnesses? We got any descriptions from them, regarding the perps?" Dennis demanded.

"They must still be in shock or something, because several of them have reported that the gunman had, and I quote, 'a deformed and inhuman face'. Well, it's either that or the gang member was high on PCP," the agent called Sid shrugged.

"Look, I don't need to tell you people that all this has made us look utterly incompetent, and that it's got the potential to be the mother of all flare-ups," Ryland looked around at all the members of his team. "As it is, I'm going to be dodging microphones and trying to explain what happened to HomeSec DC. So I don't care what you have to do – but find these people and find Alexander Harris, right the hell now!"

**

* * *

**

Somewhere in Seattle, Washington. Half an hour later

Xander woke up, after a bucket of water was tossed into his face. He found himself painfully shackled to a chair, and quickly saw that a beautiful woman was staring at him in utter fascination. ( _Oh, boy. Just my luck, she's gonna turn out to be a life-sucking Inca mummy girl, or a Preying Mantis Lady..._ ) "Who are you? Why am I here?"

"My name is Eve," the newly-reinstated female liaison to the Senior Partners replied. "And I work for the law firm of Wolfram & Hart-"

Xander looked at her at once, remembering Maia's warning. Eve noticed and dropped the act for a second, before smoothly resuming her spiel. "I'm sorry we had to meet under such unpleasant circumstances, Mr. Harris. My employers aren't usually so...abrupt...in these matters, but since we only learned about the prophecy less than two hours ago-"

"Oh, terrific. And there's ALWAYS got to be a prophecy! Am I right or what?" Xander interjected, unable to help himself and remembering what had happened the night of the Prom, back in sophomore year.

Eve just raised an eyebrow. "Yes, well, be that as it may – I'm afraid that ever since what happened with Angel a few months ago, our sources aren't what they once were in this dimension."

Instantly Xander asked, "Angel? Tall, dark-haired, brooding vampire sorta guy?"

The woman was interested. "You know him?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Xander replied, quickly wondering what Deadboy's part in all this was.

"Now that's curious. I wonder why Files and Records was missing that information..." Then Eve pulled herself together, and struck the most attractive pose she could. "Wolfram & Hart is interested in hiring you, Mr. Harris."

"For what?" Xander asked in disbelief, having figured Eve's game out the microsecond she'd started it. "I mean – what the hell would I do at a law firm? In case you don't know, I never even finished high school..."

Eve brushed that aside. "Oh, it's what you might call a full-service law firm, Mr. Harris. Anything our clients need or want, we supply..."

"Cut the crap and get to the bottom line, lady," the warrior for the light said in sudden disgust. "What's your little prophecy about? And why did you kidnap me, already?"

Eve dropped the act again, this time for good. "The file on you was absolutely spot on, I see. You'd never willingly work for the firm, like Angel did..."

Xander was confused at hearing that, and just stared at the evil woman. Suddenly, the entire world around him seemed to freeze – and Harris tried to get loose, but his efforts were all for naught. He was secured too tightly to the chair.

Suddenly the world started up again, as Xander noticed Eve staring at him. "How the hell did you just do that?" she demanded, unconsciously backing up. ( _There was nothing in Harris's file about this sort of ability..._ )

"Do what?" the guy asked, not knowing what Eve was talking about.

She gestured, "Your entire body just sort of...blurred...for a second..."

Seeing his confusion, Eve then told the three demons present, "I've decided not to take any chances. Kill him, and then get rid of the remains – discreetly."

The demon mercs smiled and got ready to do it, as Xander's struggles to get loose proved to be completely futile. But then a huge explosion occurred, as all the walls collapsed inwards...

Xander got knocked out again – but not before he got a glimpse of Faith's older-yet-unmistakeable face.

**

* * *

**

Location unknown. An hour later

Xander woke up again, trying to ignore the thumping huge pain in his head. And thus it took him a few moments to realize that this time, he was on a plane; one that he would learn soon enough was one of the Council's private jets, heading for Cleveland.

Harris looked around, and was initially thrilled to see the Scooby Gang; Faith, Buffy, Willow, Oz (who had never left the group after the events of 1999), Giles, and some other people he didn't know. Granted, the familiar ones all looked much older than he remembered, especially the Tweed Man; however, this was still his family, the boy was certain of it.

But then the young man noticed how he was still tightly secured to a chair, and said uncertainly, "Guys? What the hell's going on? Why am I chained up like this?"

Buffy Summers, the one-time love of his life, asked simply, "Are you the real Xander Harris?"

He made eye contact with her, and during that moment – 'The One Who Sees', who had never even heard that label in his entire life – felt the full impact of being missing for the last five years like never before. And he instantly knew that this person was not the blonde Slayer he'd known in high school.

Buffy Summers was years older now, as said. But she was much thinner and looked a lot more careworn, too. And Xander was stunned at how cold she was acting, here...there was almost no sign of the schoolgirl who had instantly captured his heart with her winning smile and casual punning during the Slayage, over seven years ago.

"Buff? Of course it's me..." Xander instinctively turned towards Giles. "Hey, G-man? You can tell that I'm really me – right?"

The British Watcher looked at him in amazement. "Good Lord, but I haven't heard that blasted nickname in years..." He turned to the werewolf present. "Oz?"

Daniel took a long sniff to double-check his earlier assessment. "His scent's definitely the same. And it sure sounds like him, so I'd say he's the real deal."

Buffy snorted, "Well, I should hope so! We lost two Watchers getting him out of there. I wouldn't want their deaths to be for nothing!" She then turned towards Rupert, "Let's talk..."

So saying, Slayer and Watcher retreated to the back of the cabin, well out of earshot. But Xander was still stunned at how his friends were acting. "Willow?" He struggled with the chains for a moment. "Aren't you gonna let me loose, now?"

The witch looked embarrassed. "I'm sure Buffy will give us the okay in just a moment..." Suddenly, she broke out into a huge smile. "Oh my God, Xander, but it's really you! You're, you're really back!"

Instantly Xander smiled, a million memories of childhood friendship appearing in his mind. "Guess so, Wills. Took an involuntary five-year vacation, but now here I am again..." Then he noticed the familiar brunette standing a little way back. "Hey, Faith! I thought I saw you before! Thanks for rescuing my ass from the bad guys, just now..."

The brunette Slayer looked embarrassed for some reason, as she glanced at Robin Wood standing right next to her. "Anytime, stud..." Then the woman looked like she wanted to kick herself at the slip, as Wood glanced at her in sudden suspicion. "Uh, Xand? This is my husband, Robin Wood. Beefcake, this is Xander Harris..."

"Pleasure to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you," the son of the 1970's Harlem Slayer Nikki Wood said to the returnee, somewhat frostily.

( _She's married now? Huh, guess I can forget about that whole date thing, then..._ ) Xander looked at them both, and correctly figured that Robin didn't know about him and the raven-haired beauty getting it on that night. So he said simply, "Nice to meet you too, I guess. And hey, congratulations on getting hitched to Faith!"

Harris paused for a moment, but then decided to go with his instincts on this one. "Look, Robin, I can guess what you're probably thinking – and just to save everyone a lot of time and embarrassment? Uh, Faith and I slept together once, but that was six weeks ago for me – and nearly six years ago for her. So, bottom line, whatever happened back then shouldn't interfere with you guys' happiness today, right? I'm no threat to you, I swear..."

Wood thought about it, and eventually nodded – deciding to accept that at face value, at least for now. But Willow's face was as red as her hair; in all the time the Scoobies had searched for their missing comrade back in 1999, Faith had never mentioned this! And the dark Slayer just looked at her former lover in amazement. "Guess that's the Xander Harris I remember, alright..."

Suddenly, a female brunette teenager came forward to face the temporally-displaced captive. She was approximately 17 or 18 years old, and had a huge smile on her face. "Hey, Xander. Welcome back!"

Harris just looked at her in confusion. "Er, thanks. But, um, who are you?"

The smile vanished, and a stricken look of horror appeared on the girl's face. "It's me, Dawn!"

"Uh, help me out here? Dawn who?"

Dawn Summers, the Key, just let out a choked sob and quickly ran for the rest room at the other end of the plane. She was not only devastated that the former love of her life had no idea who she was, but this was also her worst nightmare come to pass; that she REALLY hadn't been around, before four years ago...

"Way to go, nimrod!" the guy named Andrew Wells suddenly snorted to Xander, as he ran off to catch up with her.

The returnee just looked at Willow in confusion. "Okay, who the hell is he? And who's that girl too, while we're at it?"

"That was, uh, Andrew Wells; he sorta became an unofficial member of the Scooby Gang, during 2003. And you really don't remember Dawnie, Xander?"

"No," the White Knight said in confusion, not getting it. "Should I?"

Oz looked at Willow, Faith and Robin. "The monks' spell mustn't be working on him. Kinda freaky..."

"Spell, what spell?" Xander demanded. "What is all this?"

Willow leaned down to be at eye level with him. "Xander, look, I know this is gonna be confusing...but you see, Dawn is Buffy's sister..."

"What? When did this happen? Far as I knew, Buffy was an only child...wait, did Mrs. S adopt? And how come she isn't here, anyway? Apart from Deadboy, looks like all the rest of the gang's been assembled..."

The room instantly went quiet; and by quick consensus Willow was elected to explain. "I'm sorry, Xander, but Joyce died over three years ago."

Harris couldn't believe it, even though he of all people knew the risks from living in Sunnydale. "WHAT! How the hell-?"

"Complications arising from surgery, thanks to a brain tumor," Oz supplied in his trademark stoic way. "Nothing Hellmouth-y about it; Buffy and Dawn's mom just passed away alone from an aneurysm. Hit all of us real hard, but there was nothing anyone could have done; and the doctors told us Joyce didn't suffer, at least."

( _SHIT!_ ) Xander cursed to himself, as for a while there the middle-aged Summers woman had felt like more of a mother to him than his own. ( _But why wasn't anyone with her, then? If I'd been there, I'd have never let that happen!_ )

Buffy and Giles then came back from their little conference, and the senior Slayer had storm clouds in her eyes. "Xander, why the hell is my little sister currently crying her eyes out? What did you do?"

"Buffy, I didn't...uh, wait, I just heard about your mom. And I'm so sorry," the man expressed his heartfelt sympathies.

The frostiness thawed a little. "Thanks, I guess...but that's not important right now. Look, where have you been for the last five years?"

Xander shrugged, having often wondered the same thing himself over the last six weeks. "I don't know! See, that's the thing. One moment I'm outside the high school, and the next I'm standing around with four thousand other people as confused as I am, and it's 2004 already...but I'm not a day older..."

Then Ms. Summers turned to her best friend. "Willow – it sounds like his memories have been seriously messed with, apart from the whole time-travel mojo. Can you do some sorta spell on him – I don't know, a truth spell or whatever, so that we can get some answers?"

Xander was instantly in shock, and demanded, "What, are you kidding? Wills can barely levitate a pencil here!"

"That was five years ago, Xander," Giles said at once. "Willow's abilities have...markedly improved since then."

Just then, Andrew rejoined the gang in defeat as Willow stammered, "Buffy, I'm not sure that's such a good idea right now. I mean, put yourself in Xander's shoes – he doesn't know how much things have changed, ever since high school finished! Heck, he probably doesn't even know that the Mayor was the Big Bad back then..."

"Huh? Richard Wilkins was a black hat?" a very confused Xander demanded. "Seriously?"

No one answered, and upon seeing Buffy's impatient stare Willow just sighed, and started chanting the magicks. Xander called out, "Willow, what do you think you're doing? Don't – this is crazy! Not to mention the equivalent of mind rape – damn it you guys, this is pointless! I don't KNOW anything!"

Willow flinched and faltered at that. The bad memories of what she'd done to her dead lover, Tara Maclay, surfacing. Oz noticed her pain and gently took hold of her hand; the witchy woman quickly flashed a smile at him, before the thoughts of what she'd done to her werewolf ex-boyfriend on Kingman's Bluff that day came back with a vengeance.

Giles said in a conciliatory tone, "I'm sorry if this is so upsetting, Xander, but the prophecy we've discovered means that we have to investigate this-"

"WHAT PROPHECY?" Xander almost screamed out loud in frustration, remembering that Eve had also mentioned something about that.

"I'm glad you asked, young one," the 22-year-old Andrew said at once, in his annoying 'academic' voice. "For it was written, that the father displaced out of time would one day beget a son, who would either be the saviour of mankind – or its destroyer..."

"Will you please stop talking like that?" Buffy demanded in exasperation, as Xander was stunned silent all over again at THAT revelation. "Willow, get on with it!"

She quickly did the spell, but then a white light erupted around her head – and Ms. Rosenberg screamed, before she was blasted unconscious by the mystical energy.

Xander was instantly horrified. "What happened!" He struggled with his bonds, "Damn it, let me out of these things! Willow-"

Yet again, everyone ignored him. And eventually the flame-haired woman was roused back to consciousness, as Buffy demanded, "Are you okay? And what went wrong, Will?"

"Yeah, just a little woozy still. And his mind is seriously warded against intrusion, Buff," the witch rubbed her head in pain, smiling gratefully at Oz as he massaged her shoulders. ( _Some days, I could almost go back to Boys Town..._ ) "I guess whoever took him way back when, they made DARN sure no one's gonna be getting inside Xander's brain anytime soon..."

A stressed and frustrated Buffy lost all sense of judgement and released Xander at once, the chains snapping in the face of her Slayer strength, and she grabbed him by the throat – lifting him up off the floor. "That's it. We're talking about the end of the world – I want some answers, damn it! So start coughing up!"

But Harris couldn't even breathe, as he choked and gargled incoherently. "Ghhhh..."

Faith quickly got her sister Slayer to back off, luckily. "Hey, B, enough! He doesn't know squat, and even if he did – Boy Toy can't talk if he's unconscious..."

As Ms. Summers belatedly calmed down and released Harris with a quick apology, and Robin briefly stared at his wife again, Xander looked at Buffy in silent fear and disbelief – as he quickly backed away from her.

And this fact was not lost on any of the other people present, either; as Giles, for one, wondered whether things were now completely and utterly bolloxed beyond repair.

TBC...


	3. Freedom Of Choice

See Part 1 for Disclaimer and other information. Thanks to all the people who have reviewed! Your kind words are very much appreicated. And since I'm a feedback junkie, please keep telling me what you think, what's good or bad about the story.

**

* * *

**

Part III: Freedom Of Choice

**Department of Homeland Security, Seattle, Washington. October 14th, 2004**

In Diana's office, she and Tom were talking about Xander – and other things. "Just checked with the regional FBI office; there still hasn't been any sign of Alexander Harris, ever since we found those burned bodies along with that van. And how the hell something like that took place with no traces of accelerant, I'll never know..."

Baldwin was cynical enough to say, "So, even if he's still alive, what do you think the odds are that that kid's ever gonna surface again?"

Skouris shrugged. "God only knows..." She then went over to a computer monitor. "At any rate, Ryland's pulled us off of that case, now that the guy has started to turn into yesterday's news. That's part of why I wanted to show you this."

"What am I looking at?" Tom demanded, looking at the screen that had dots all over a map of the country.

"The red dots mark the spots where the American members of The 4400 originally lived-" Diana indicated the spread-out dots.

Tom corrected her, "You mean, the returnees."

She shook her head. "Not anymore, according to the press. It's The 4400. Now you have to admit, it's a bit strange. A nice, round number like that. I wonder if it has any significance..."

Baldwin asked, "So you're saying that if 3,781 people had suddenly shown up that night, it wouldn't have been as strange?"

Skouris hedged a little, "I'd say, slightly less strange. This however, is downright weird. Here's where The 4400 are right now, two weeks after their release."

A big clump of yellow-white dots could be seen in the heart of Washington state on the screen, as Tom said, "Sixty-five percent are still in Seattle."

Diana nodded. "They're just not going home, and none of them can come up with a good reason as to why."

Her partner asked, "You think it means something?"

The woman was sure of it. "In the CDC, we'd call this a statistically significant disease cluster. And before you mention it, like I said to you once before – I don't believe in coincidences..."

Tom just looked thoughtful. "So you think it's also linked to what went down with Harris, or not?"

Diana looked troubled at the concept. "I honestly don't know..."

**

* * *

**

Woodland Park, Seattle, Washington. The same time

Lily Moore was seated in the middle of the park, watching the children play. She felt terrible; a few days ago she'd learned that she was pregnant, even though the blonde woman hadn't been before she'd disappeared back in 1993. Plus, her daughter had no idea who she was, since her husband had gotten married to someone else while she'd been...away...

All of a sudden, a hand touched her shoulder, and she looked into a friend's face. "Richard!"

"Lily," the black man replied, as they hugged and spoke briefly before heading for a coffee shop. Then the white woman said, "So, have you heard anything new about Xander? He was all over the news, a few weeks ago..."

Tyler shook his head, having convinced himself by now that he'd definitely been seeing things that day. "Not a thing, poor guy. How's Cordelia taking it?"

"I don't know – I haven't been able to get through to her," Lily confessed. "The one time I talked to her mother on the phone, as soon as I mentioned that I was one of The 4400 – she instantly hung up..."

Richard shrugged. "Woman wants to protect her daughter from the freaky things in the world, guess it's understandable-"

Lily instantly burst into tears. "What did I say?" the former pilot asked in confusion.

"Oh, God, Richard. I'm pregnant!"

"You're having a baby? Are you sure?" Richard asked in shocked surprise.

Lily nodded. "I'm in my first trimester, I had the doctors do the test three times. But this whole thing is impossible! Brian had been out of town for weeks when I disappeared, and I haven't been with anyone since I've been back!"

Richard Tyler was now confused. "I don't understand. Then how did you..."

The former Mrs. Moore suddenly became apologetic. "I don't know. Look, I'm sorry to be dumping this on you. It's not really fair-"

Her companion said reassuringly, "It's okay, I wanna help."

Lily just stared at him strangely. "I know. There's some sort of connection between us, isn't there? I feel it..."

Richard slowly acknowledged it as well. "Yeah, I can feel it too. It's part of why I came back from St. Louis, there was nothing there for me anymore. But Lily, it's complicated...see, you know how I told you that I knew your grandmother back then? She and I – we weren't just friends, it was more than that. We were gonna start a family..."

Lily's eyes went wide, but she still said sympathetically, "It must have been so difficult for the two of you. A white woman and a black man, in the Fifties..."

Richard almost chuckled. "Black. Back then I was Negro, or coloured, or worse. But we didn't care. We figured, after the war, we'd just take off to some big city like Chicago, New York, Paris..."

The female returnee said sadly, "But you never made it home."

"No. I never did."

She took his hand. "I'm glad you found me."

Richard never hesitated. "Me too."

**

* * *

**

Cleveland, Ohio. The same time

Xander Harris stared around at his quarters, with what was approaching severe annoyance and frustration. He hated to admit it – but this place was starting to feel more like a prison, than a place of refuge and safety...

The returnee had been settled into the new Slayage HQ, which was an undercover school for girls. And what with the fuss over his very public kidnapping, Xander knew he had no other choice – not if he didn't want to answer some very awkward questions about what had happened from Homeland Security.

And if he wanted to avoid Wolfram & Hart's clutches too, of course...

With regards to the school, Harris still found it hard to believe that there were now thousands of Slayers in the world, thanks to Willow redistributing the Slayer essence with that darn scythe weapon last year. But hey; with all the other strange crap he'd encountered ever since arriving in the 21st century, that one didn't really rank up there on the old weird-o-meter.

At least, not at the moment.

What had really thrown the male teen for a loop though was the sense of alienation he now felt, because of how much everyone had changed while he'd been gone.

Well, okay, it was somewhat to be expected; people change, and children grow up. But they had changed and grown up without him. And from the stories that nerd Andrew had been telling lately, life on the Hellmouth had been anything but smooth during all those years...

The Mayor, that cyborg ADAM, the crazy hellgod Glory, the Trio of geeks, the First Evil...

Xander remembered that particular Big Bad; as well as Angel's crazed rants that something was haunting him at the mansion, back during 1998. Also, he remembered how Buffy had kicked its ass out of town that Christmas. And yet, it had come back, badder than ever...because Willow, Oz and two people he didn't know called Tara and Anya, had raised Buffy from the dead during 2001?

And what had happened afterwards during that year, Xander found even more impossible to believe. ( _Buffy actually slept with SPIKE? She willingly bumped uglies with the soulless vampire that, along with Drusilla, happily tried to kill us all more than once? What the hell ever happened to Deadboy, the eternal undead love of her life?_ )

Oddly enough, nobody would give him a straight answer about that ensouled vampire, and what had happened – why he and Buffy had split up three months after he'd vanished, and why Angel was now considered a traitor to the cause. And Xander found it majorly ironic that where once he would have jumped up and down in glee over how everyone had finally jumped onto the "Angel is evil" bandwagon, now...

Now, he almost wished the black-clad bloodsucker would show up – and tell him what the hell had really happened to all his friends, ever since 1999.

All of a sudden the door to his room opened, and a tall, dark-haired man came in uninvited. "Buongiorno, Signor Harris," the man said with a strong Italian accent.

Just like on the plane, Xander took one look at the guy – and instantly knew that he was major trouble. "Who are you?"

"I am known as The Immortal," the guy replied, with a small bow of the head. "And I have been wanting to meet you for many days, now..."

"Why? You work for the Council?" Xander demanded, starting to back up.

"No, no," The Immortal said, with what he thought was a friendly grin. It only made Xander's stomach roil. "The charming Buffy Summers is, in fact, my beloved girlfriend, and I wished to meet with the man who once brought her back from the dead-"

The Immortal paused, noticing how Xander was still backing away from him. "Is there a problem?"

The returnee said simply, "Don't think you want to hear it..."

"Nonsense, my young friend! Tell me whatever it is you have to say."

Xander replied guardedly, "Fine, you asked for it. But there's something in your eyes...that reminds me of a soulless vampire I once met, called Angelus..."

The Immortal just stared at his companion, and then suddenly his entire demeanour appeared to change. He withdrew a sword from a hidden compartment in his coat and said in apparent sorrow, "My regrets, Alexander Harris..."

Before he tried to kill the male member of The 4400, as Xander started ducking madly. "Hey! Stop! Wh-why are you doing this?" Harris shouted.

"It is nothing personal, you understand, but you have to die. MY future depends on it, according to my oracles..."

And then, just like two weeks ago with Eve, something odd happened.

Just as The Immortal was about to deliver the killing blow, he suddenly seemed to freeze; and on instinct, without even thinking about it, Xander yanked the sword away from his hand and less than a second later – decapitated him with his own weapon.

Harris blinked, then looked down at the floor at the headless body, as he dropped the sword in horror. "Oh, dear God. What the-"

At that moment the Scoobies came in, and started demanding to know what had happened. Xander didn't know what to say, he just gestured numbly at the dead guy, "He came in, we talked, and then he tried to kill me...I, it, it was self-defense..."

Buffy got incensed at once over how Harris had killed her boyfriend, refusing to believe it. "BULL! Xander, don't you lie to me – tell me what really happened! Or I'll do to you what you just did to him, right now!"

Again, the returnee didn't think – he just reacted. As the rest of the world slowed down to nothing, Harris felt compelled to run for it; and all that the Scooby Gang saw was a Xander-shaped blur that instantly vanished out of the room, at super-speed.

**

* * *

**

Los Angeles, Calif**ornia. October 28th, 2004**

f 

Cordelia Chase was feeling very frustrated. She'd known that settling back into her old life would be difficult, but she hadn't been expecting THIS!

First off, there had been the big surprise that she now had a SISTER! Granted, her mother had given birth to her when she was only 19 years old, and so was still young enough to have another child...but to name the spoiled little 5-year-old 'Cordelia' as well?

That was HER name, damn it! What, did they just want another 'princess' to show off to their rich friends?

Then there had been those damned counselling sessions. The NTAC (National Threat Assessment Command) shrinks she had met with every week had asked endless questions about her relationship with her parents, but how the hell was that supposed to help her regain her crown of being Queen C at high school?

Okay, it may have been totally shallow of her, but that was what she'd set out to do after starting senior year again. Granted, it sucked that her fashion sense, taste in music and pop-cultural references were all six years out of date; but those were problems that she could easily deal with, in time...

What she found strangely hard to cope with was that this wasn't her old hometown; and the Chase name didn't automatically endow her with respect and popularity any longer. Here in LA, she was just another rich and pretty face in the crowd; and the meatheads from the Hemery High football team she'd dated were only after one thing, as far as she was concerned.

( _And let's not forget those two NTAC agents, Baldwin and Skouris..._ ) They had constantly been hassling her; too; wanting to know if Xander had ever gotten into contact with the former May Queen, during the past month or so.

When she'd heard about his kidnapping on the news after they'd touched down at LAX, Ms. Chase had been frantic with worry; later, she had even tried to get in touch with the old Scooby Gang, and see if they could help find her ex. But they were untraceable, and so Cordelia had finally given up on that route.

Eventually, her parents had calmed her down and told her that everything what could be done for that boy, would be done. But now, Cordelia had started to wonder. It seemed like everyone had simply forgotten about her former boyfriend over the last four weeks, and she didn't like that...

Because, even though she'd gotten pissed with Xander before they'd split up, the young woman had to admit to herself that Lily had been right all along; she still cared a great deal about him.

As Cordy arrived home, she found a mess in the house. ( _Typical,_ ) she thought sourly of her new sibling. ( _God, I hope I wasn't ever such a little-_ )

But then her feet slid out from under her, as the teenager entered the kitchen; and Cordelia fell flat on her ass, the cold water on the floor staring to soak into her expensive designer jeans. "NO, GOD DAMN IT!"

The female returnee then heard childish laughter, as she saw little CC pointing and laughing at her. "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Cordy suddenly screamed, completely losing her temper.

She got up and grabbed the young child by the shoulders, and started to shake her. "I've just about had it with you-"

Suddenly though, the younger Cordelia started to scream. And it wasn't a trick; the little kid was definitely in pain...

The older Cordelia let go and moved back, in confusion. ( _What's wrong with her?_ )

Mr. and Mrs. Chase suddenly came into the room, also having heard the screams. "What's going on here?" the man demanded.

"She hurt me! I'm cold, she hurt me!" the prepubescent child hollered, glaring at her big sister.

"I did not! Okay, I got a little angry at the trick she just played and shook her a little, but I never hurt her!" Ms. Chase said at once.

Her mother instantly went to examine her secondborn, and discovered the nasty-looking cold burn marks on little Cordelia's shoulders. "What did you do?" the blonde woman shouted out to her oldest child at once.

"Nothing!" Cordy passionately replied at once. "Why won't you believe me? Mom-"

"Stay away from her!" Mrs. Chase shouted with a glare, overreacting and wrapping her arms around her little girl.

Mr. Chase grabbed his older offspring by the arm, and took her into his study. He closed the door and then turned to face his daughter, "Cordelia, we need to talk..."

"But Daddy, I didn't DO anything!"

"I'm not so sure," the dark-haired man said seriously. "There have been rumours lately of you 4400 people having strange powers-"

"WHAT?" Cordelia demanded, reminded of the old days in Sunnydale at once. And no way she ever wanted to be classified as one of the freaks! "Dad, come on, I'm still the same old me that I ever was!"

"Well, I'd say the fact that you've been obsessing over that Xander Harris boy lately definitely indicates otherwise! You may as well forget about him, Cordelia, he's gone," Mr. Chase almost snorted in contempt.

Suddenly, everything seemed to go out of kilter in Cordelia Chase's world. She said very slowly, "Daddy...when we were in Quarantine, Xander got pissed one day and told me that you and Mom hired a crooked cop to prove that he killed me...or kidnapped me or whatever. I mean, he DID lie to me about that...didn't he?"

Her father hesitated for less than a moment, but it was enough. "Well, of course-"

"No he didn't," Cordelia said in growing horror. "Oh my God, Dad, you – you two were willing to send someone to jail, for something that they didn't even do-?"

"Well, at the time, we were SURE that the little asshole had done something! I don't know what the hell you ever saw in him, anyway; he was the no-good son of the town drunk-" the middle-aged man shouted out, the bottled-up annoyance from the days finally coming out.

"And yet, he's never lied to me; you're the one who's done that. On account of you haven't even lifted a finger to try to help him ever since Xander got kidnapped that day, have you?" Cordelia said with a sense of dreadful calm, which caused her old man to look at her in consternation. "Not to mention that you don't even know him at all, do you? There's just – all your preconceived ideas, because of what the Harris family was like back then."

She shook her head slowly, "Daddy, I learned this much over the last few months – there's a word for people with that sort of attitude, and it's called 'bigot'..."

Unfortunately, that was the final straw. Seething, Mr. Chase withdrew a couple of credit cards from his wallet; he then put them in Cordy's hand and told her bluntly, "Go to your room, and pack your things. I want you out of this house, by morning-"

"Oh, so you're actually kicking me out? Well, well. Bet that's not going to look too good for you and Mom at the yacht club, is it?" Cordelia said sardonically, suddenly wondering why she was acting like this.

Maybe it was anger, or shame. Maybe it was from being 'programmed' by those who had taken the returnees. Or maybe it was the sense of alienation and displacement that all 4400's experienced, to some extent or another...

"Let's get something straight right now, young lady; you're still a minor and therefore part of this family, until you're 18 years old. That hasn't changed. But you can't stay here any longer, because you're obviously not my little girl anymore-"

"Why, because you think the aliens or whoever brainwashed me? Or is it because I actually have a brain, and I can think for myself? That's the problem with you and Mom, Dad; you don't understand me at all. Even back before I disappeared, six years ago! But I understand you now, all too well. So you two don't need to worry, I'm outta here! I'm going back to Seattle, and do what I should have done right from day one – try to find Xander myself..."

So saying, Cordelia Chase marched to her room, changed out of her wet clothes, packed her essentials into a suitcase and quickly drove off in the family's BMW.

Her mother came to find her father afterwards, "Carlton, where's Cordelia? I, I guess I should apologize, for screaming at her like that-"

"She's gone, Catherine," Mr. Chase replied morosely, now wondering if he truly had made a horrible mistake driving his daughter away like that. "She packed her things, and left. And I doubt she'll be back, anytime soon."

"What? Why?" his better half demanded.

"I not only told her to leave after losing my temper, she...she knows now about what happened with Detective Stein back then," Mr. Chase replied with a sigh.

Mrs. Chase paled at past mistakes. "Oh dear God..." Then she thought angrily to herself, ( _DAMN YOU, Xander Harris! This is all your fault somehow, you little punk!_ )

Suddenly, the two of them noticed what the reporter on TV was saying, as Mr. Chase quickly raised the volume. "Police aren't saying who released this closely-guarded secret – a document containing the names and addresses of all The 4400 has appeared on the Internet, and is now posted on more than 20 sites. Authorities won't confirm the leak but efforts to shut down the sites, with an emergency injunction, suggest the list is genuine. We'll have more on this breaking story as it develops..."

Carlton Chase looked at his wife, as he got up to call security. "Well, that's just great. I bet now we'll have a bunch of weirdos hanging around outside the front gates, for days!"

**

* * *

**

Spokane, Washington. Mid-November, 2004

Xander Harris ran across the road that night, keeping an eye on his target at all times.

It hadn't been all that hard for him to get out of Cleveland, a few weeks ago; he'd gone underground, the moment he'd left the school. And since the city was now the home of the new Hellmouth, the local humans were already getting into the habit of repressing whatever couldn't fit into their normal world-view.

Which definitely included Xander's uncanny imitation of 'The Flash'...

Well, anyway. More than a little curious about his new power, or gift, or whatever the hell you wanted to call it – as soon as he'd gotten out of town, the boy had experimented with what he could now do; but quickly found that he had to use his ability sparingly, as it drained Xander's energy reserves a great deal.

Which made perfect sense, of course. The 4400 weren't endowed with the Slayer essence or anything like that; they were mere mortals, and their bodies had to pay the price eventually for the use of their...enhancements.

Unable to understand it, but drawn back to Washington like a moth to a flame – just like the other 65 percent of his kind – Xander had gotten this far by staying underneath the radar. And he'd had to be careful, as the teenager had no intention of meeting up with Homeland Security, Wolfram & Hart OR the Watchers in the foreseeable future.

In any case, since Harris was just passing through town, he'd been minding his own business...until he'd seen someone he knew.

A vampire someone, that is.

The bloodsucker had now disappeared into a dark alley, as they all seemed to do at some point or another; and, his hand grasping a stake, Xander quietly made his way along the filthy passageway. ( _Okay, be cool. Be calm. You can do this, just pretend you're a Vulcan! Be Mr. Spock, Sarek, Tuvok, hell – even that hot babe you saw on TV, back in Cleveland..._ )

And then the male teen saw his prey again.

Drusilla.

Mad childe of Angelus, the soulless version of Angel, it had been six years since he'd last seen her – but Xander did not feel at all sad about this fact. And seeing what she was doing to her victim, after having fed and killed him...

The British vampiress was carving deep, bloody furrows and trenches on the cheeks and forehead of her male victim with her claws, and all the while with a nutty smile on her face. This made Xander bolster his resolve to do what he had to, as well as wince with a combination of disgust and horror.

( _Loony bitch must have decided she wanted to draw pretty lines..._ ) "Hello, Drusilla."

The insane undead whirled around, and the moment she locked eyes with Xander – she started to scream, "NO! NO! YOU? You can't be here!"

Dru instantly charged at her nemesis with vampire speed, but she had badly miscalculated in thinking Harris was just another Happy Meal on legs nowadays. Moving so fast that, in comparison, it made the female vamp look like she was in slow-motion, Xander stepped out of the way and threw her against the wall of the alley.

Again, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow, Xander then thrust two stakes through the stunned Drusilla's palms, effectively pinning her against the wall. As he slowed down to a halt, the former Scooby held a third stake against her chest and whispered, "Don't scream. Or it'll be the last thing you ever do!"

Oddly enough, Dru decided to obey. Staring at her captor's eyes, she then said in her London accent, "You're my kitten, you are, but you can't be 'ere! The moon and the stars, they told me you were dead, dead in Africa..."

"Well, sorry to disappoint Dru. No, actually, I'm really not! Now, let's get something clear; the only reason I didn't stake you immediately, is 'cause I wanted to ask you some questions. And I want nothing but non-cryptic answers, you understand, or else Mr. Pointy here is gonna make you fit inside of a dust buster! You got that, or do you need some sort of object lesson on how nasty I can make this for you?"

Drusilla just shook her head. Xander went on, "Good. Now, first off, where's Deadboy these days? 'Cause I got some questions to ask good ol' Angel, about what's happened ever since I've been gone-"

"Lost, lost he is! Daddy isn't Daddy no more, the Angel-beast has forever taken his place," the mad vampire interrupted, a gleam of anger and insanity in her eyes. Then she locked eyes with Harris again in surprise, "And you're gonna be a daddy too one day, aren't you, kitten? My, the stars say such delicious things about your darling little boy! I bet his big blue eyes, they'll taste just like onions..."

( _Oh, shit, not that again!_ ) Xander had done his best to ignore what Eve and the Scooby Gang had spoken to him about that first day out of Quarantine, since he and prophecy were not on good terms. After all, Harris was a firm believer in the old saying from the Terminator movies, 'The future is not set. There is no fate but that which we make for ourselves'.

And hearing the 144-year-old creature mention this now, Xander decided to shut her down at once, definitely not wanting to know. "Funny thing, Dru – but I'm not gonna let whatever some guy wrote down in a musty old scroll way back when, dictate my future. So shut up about that, because I refuse to be Prophecy's butt-monkey like Buffy and Angel! I make my own decisions-"

"But kitten, you should know who's going to be his mummy-"

Without warning Xander plunged the stake in, just above her heart, before yanking it out again as Drusilla yelped in pain. "I hope you don't mind the prospect of roasting in Hell, because let me warn you, the next time – I won't miss! Don't try it again, Drusilla – I'm REALLY not in the mood!" he hissed at her.

The brunette woman just stared at Xander, for several moments. "The stars say you honestly mean it, too..."

Harris relaxed and backed off a little. "Fine. Now getting back to the Q and A, what about Spike? Anything you'd care to share with the class?"

"Oh, kitten, my poor precious Spoike...he's lost too, now, he is; and he lost his 'eart to that nasty Slayer, so long ago..." Drusilla started to whine.

Somewhat oddly, Xander smiled. "Yeah, I've heard the stories ever since I came back. So what hurts you the most, Dru – the fact that Spike chose Buffy over you that night, or that he finally wised up to what a high-maintenance fruitcake you really are?"

Unable to help herself, Drusilla vamped out and snarled – starting to tear loose of the stakes holding her immobile. But again, far faster than she could follow, Xander's body blurred into motion – and a pile of dust quickly settled onto the dirty ground of the alley, as one of the worst crimes Angelus had ever committed was finally erased from existence.

"Just so you know – that was for Kendra six years ago, you undead psycho," Xander said in satisfaction, before hearing a police siren in the distance and deciding to get the hell outta Dodge.

TBC...


	4. Consequences

See Part 1 for Disclaimer and other information. Again, thanks to all those who have reviewed! I'm into the home stretch now on this one, just one more chapter to go. So, please keep thefeedback coming!

**

* * *

**

Part IV: Consequences

**Cleveland, Ohio. The next day**

A meeting was taking place at the school, one that the inner circle of the Scooby Gang had been called to attend.

The people gathered were waiting for Willow and Giles to show up, since Rupert was the one that had summoned them all here. The group in the meanwhile had split up into a few mini-groups, that began to chatter and laugh; Faith with Robin, Dawn with Oz and Andrew.

Buffy Summers sat alone, though. Thinking about the one and only Xander Harris.

Back in the 20th century, right after Cordelia had vanished, Buffy had felt that if she had just been on the ball that damned night – maybe the vamps wouldn't have gotten her best guy friend's girlfriend. And then later, when Xander had disappeared too, the blonde Slayer had thought she'd failed AGAIN – and had constantly beaten herself up over not watching out for her male pal better.

And yet when the miracle had happened, and both teenagers had been returned to the land of the living – Xander had reacted so...negatively to her. The fear on his face that first day on the plane, for one thing – okay, Buffy knew that she had overreacted over Willow getting hurt and lost her senses for a moment, but in the past – Xander would have forgiven her for the slip in a heartbeat...

( _Or would he have? It gets so hard to remember now, what life was really like back then. Have we all really changed that much? Or is it Xander who's changed, so much that he just didn't fit in here anymore?_ )

It was a hard question for her to answer, since Buffy still felt guilty and overloaded from the responsibility of having activated all of the Potentials to full Slayer status. Still, after that nasty business with her boyfriend getting his head chopped off, Ms. Summers had been ready to call out a Slayer blood hunt on his killer; until Wood had suggested that she wait till after they'd seen the security video footage.

As it turned out, he and Giles had asked Andrew to install a hidden camera in Xander's room, as a security precaution. And while the ACLU might have gotten purple with rage over learning about a stunt like that, it made perfect sense from a security standpoint – especially when dealing with a complete unknown like a 4400.

In any case, everyone had seen Xander's version of events being validated; as The Immortal had, indeed, tried to unjustifiably murder him. And no matter how hard Andrew tweaked the footage, the tape just couldn't properly show what was going on – when Harris had gone into high speed at that moment...

Buffy sighed to herself. It had been almost impossible to accept that her honey could have done something like that, but like it or not – he was dead now, and Xander was gone. AGAIN. Only this time, it had been by his choice.

Suddenly, Giles and Willow entered the meeting room. "Ah, good afternoon, all," the Watcher muttered, as he put some papers down on a nearby desk.

"What's up, Giles?" Dawn asked at once.

"We, uh, we might have some news. And it, it kinda concerns Xander," Willow said, a little apologetically.

The brunette Key said nothing, she just quickly walked out the door. That part of her life wasn't a favorite topic of hers these days, for no matter how hard he'd tried not to – Harris had constantly managed to upset Dawn when his memories of the past had clashed with everyone else's, about her presence in Sunnydale then.

"I better go make sure she's gonna be okay," Andrew said to the group, before the story teller started running after the teenager like a faithful puppy.

"So what's the sitch, G?" Faith asked, sitting on Robin's lap very comfortably.

"Yes, well, perhaps Willow can best explain the first part of it. She's the one who first discovered the information, after all."

The redhead blushed a little. "Well, you guys know how I hacked into the NTAC computer system?"

"I thought you quit doing that, after they beefed up security following the 4400 name leak," Oz asked simply. "You said you didn't want to lead them back to us here at the school?"

"Right, right, but today I took a calculated risk; and it really paid off! See, uh, recently, this guy named Marco's been pushing a pet theory of his around the water cooler. Something he calls the ripple effect," the redhead responded.

"What's that mean?" Robin asked at once.

"Uh, it's a whole big picture kind of thing," Willow tried to explain. "See, there was this 4400 guy called Orson Bailey; he killed someone called Adam Kensington, almost without meaning to. And this other guy Carl Morrissey, well, he was a well-intentioned but hapless vigilante who ended up dead-"

"Still not getting the whole big picture thing," Oz interrupted.

"That's because I haven't mentioned yet how Kensington's company was perpetrating this, like, massive fraud, that would've seriously cost the taxpayers tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars – which came to light after the murder. And I've learned that since Morrissey's death, his neighbours have formed a committee that's protecting the streets, and cleaning up their neighborhood..." Willow replied.

Giles injected, "The incidents themselves were just catalysts for change, so to speak, thanks to those people sent back with their special powers. Positive change, in those two cases-"

"So what about the stuff regarding that 4400 serial killer, that was on the news a while ago? 'Cause what that asshole did couldn't be described as 'positive change'," Faith spat out in disgust. "And trust me, I oughta know!"

"Again, you need to consider the ripple effect. Those hate crimes, the bombings carried out the other day and the attack against that 4400 gated community? They were all committed by the brothers of a murder victim, o-of that serial killer. So The 4400 went from being a threat in the public's eye view, to becoming persecuted victims-" Willow explained.

"So what was Xander's ripple effect?" Buffy's voice spoke up for the first time.

The room went quiet for a moment, as everyone stared at her. "Ah, Buffy..." Giles started to say.

"I'm not an idiot, Giles – I can put two and two together, just as well as anyone else in this room. When Xander publicly got kidnapped that day by Wolfram & Hart – sure, you could argue he paved the way for that whole sympathy thing, with the rest of The 4400. But that's not the whole story by a long shot. So what did his killing The Immortal bring about?"

Rupert sighed, reluctant to speak to his semi-surrogate daughter of what he'd only recently discovered. "I've, um, learned of a power struggle in the demon underworld that's started recently, ever since i-it became common knowledge that your paramour was no longer amongst the living. A number of...black hats, if you will, have entered the arena and started slaughtering one another's forces – in their attempt to gain control of all The Immortal's assets. Enemy combatants that the new Council is ill-equipped to deal with, h-have been dying – or at least ceasing to remain a threat," he finished up.

"God damn! Talk about your ripple effect," Faith said with a sense of wonder.

"Makes you wonder about that prophecy too," Robin nodded. "What Harris junior is actually gonna do, one day..."

"That's why we have to find him," Ms. Summers said firmly. "All of that's far too important for us to just let Xander wander around the country, doing God only knows what..."

Giles said nothing, but looked worried towards his Slayer. ( _And just what are we going to do if Xander doesn't WANT to stay with us, child? Chain him up again? Kill him? I suspect nothing less would eventually suffice, given what he's capable of now..._ )

**

* * *

**

Mount Rainier, Washington. Late November, 2004

Cordelia Chase stood where all The 4400 had appeared out of a ball of light three months ago, and looked around her. There were a number of people engaging in conversation, but Cordy wasn't ready yet to join them.

Her mind drifted back onto the recent past. After departing her parents' new home (and good riddance to it, in her view), despite the astronomical odds – Cordy had encountered her old flock of sheep, at a mall where she'd stopped to stock up on items for the trip to Washington.

"Oh my God! Is that Cordelia!" Harmony's unmistakeable voice had called out in the Starbucks establishment. And true enough, it had been.

Just like with Xander's encounter on that plane with the Scoobies though, Cordy had been shocked to see her popular friends now six years older than her. And the worst part was finding out that, down to the last airheaded specimen, they had all become trophy wives; all the things her one-time followers had wanted to do in high school, become doctors or lawyers or whatever, had changed to sitting by the pool while their rich husbands went on "business trips"...

And the infamous lack of tact that Cordelia Chase had always been famous for? It had not been appreciated by those spoiled twenty-something women, not at all. Stirring up as it did bad memories of last year's mad dash out of town, before Sunnydale went the way of the dodo.

Still, before they had finally left her in disgust, the former leader of the pack had gotten in quite a heavy blow about the sheep definitely needing to do more to hide the crow's feet and age lines; so the memories of that encounter weren't all bad, as far as the brunette girl was concerned.

All that aside, however – when Cordelia had finally arrived back in Seattle, she hadn't been entirely sure what to do. Reporting in to the Department of Homeland Security one day, though, she had encountered Richard Tyler; who had taken her to meet with Lily Moore. And the two women had cried on each other's shoulder about how their lives had changed so much, and how it was all so unfair...

Well, from there the three had eventually met Jordan Collier, a rich returnee from 2002; and one who had taken the other three 4400's in, giving Richard a job in his security department. And Collier had been fascinated to see what Cordelia could do, with her power to freeze things by touch...

The possibilities were endless, he'd told her. Masses of liquid toxic waste could be made solid, and easier to handle and dispose of. Or Cordy could save any number of companies the expense of buying and maintaining large refrigeration units, if it could be figured out how her talent worked.

She could also help cryogenic units lower temperatures to try and maintain transport of donated organs; or hire herself out for work in desert areas to maintain more temperate environmental conditions for the field teams, and basically name her own price there...

But all of that meant little to Cordelia. Primarily because she still hadn't been able to find any trace of Xander, anywhere.

It had indeed turned into an obsession for the girl, as her father had accused. And the worst part was the 18-year-old really knew it, too. It wasn't just that Harris was her ex, or that he was the sole contemporary link to the life she'd lived before her abduction...

It was a LOT more than that. Like it or not, it was the big L-word territory, as she'd thought to herself the night she'd disappeared during 1998. And finally, Cordelia decided to talk to her friends about her issues.

"Girl, it sure sounds like you got it bad," Richard told the ex-cheerleader as he held Lily tightly; these two had officially become a couple about a month ago, and were now eagerly looking forward to raising her unborn child together.

"Well, I already knew that from Quarantine," Lily smirked, as she absently ran a hand across her pregnant belly.

"I just wish I had never bitched at him about Faith like that! I also wish I could tell him how sorry I am..." Cordy vented. "And you know, I never really bought into that whole thing about how 'just one moment can change your life forever', but if I'd never shared that kiss with Xander in Buffy's basement that day...would I have ended up just like Harmony, and the others? Become some bimbo that's eventually going to be dumped by an ex-husband, when he has his mid-life crisis?"

"Well, something happened to you to prevent THAT from ever coming about. Just like the rest of us," Richard commented.

"Yeah, I guess," Cordy told her friend, as she looked out at the peaceful water of the lake. "To tell you the truth, though, I kinda think all that was because of him too."

"You think Xander was the reason for your abduction?" Lily asked with a frown. "Why?"

"Well, for the life of me, I can't think of any other reason why I would have been picked to be a 4400!" the young woman exclaimed. "I mean, the only things special about me back then were my looks, and my family's money! Xander and his...freaky life are the only things that could have made me takeable-"

"None of us know for what reason we were taken," Lily told her reassuringly, again touching her stomach with a brief caress. "Don't sell yourself short like that."

"I'm not," Cordy told her. "But now, I can see just how suck-y my life would have become! I mean it's not like Cordelia Chase would have ever been able to do anything to save the world, if I'd never been abducted back then..."

She suddenly looked back to Richard and Lily, and noting their happiness decided to let it all out. "And I don't know why, but I just feel like Xander and I are meant to be together now, more than ever..."

* * *

About a quarter of a mile away, the object of her affections was talking to an older gentleman, as the two men walked along the edge of the lake. "Gotta tell you, I honestly don't know why I even came back here," Xander declared, before looking across the water's surface.

"None of us do, young man," the elderly 4400 replied. "But this place can be thought of as being the spot where we were all reborn, from the ashes of our previous lives. And it's got to be more than mere random chance that we all just showed up here, with plenty of room for everybody..."

"You're one of those 'this is all happening for a reason' people, aren't you?"

"Everything happens for a reason, in my opinion," the older returnee told the teenager. "We may not be able to always see it, but it's still there – hidden somewhere. Look at my cousin Earl; he spent his whole life being the nastiest man I ever knew. But then after everything he went through in the Vietnam war, he entered the priesthood! He was running a homeless shelter, last time I saw him back in '82..."

"Well, from my viewpoint, I can't see any reason for what happened!" Xander said, as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I didn't have the best home life, granted, but at least I had some good friends. Hell, my life WAS my friends! Now, my ex-girlfriend hates me. The guy I looked up to like a father, he never even really missed me. One of my bestest friends acts like Judge Dredd, nowadays! And my very best friend ever since kindergarten, she just does whatever she's ordered to do...plus, she's gay now? Didn't ever see THAT coming..."

"It all depends on one's viewpoint," he was told, as the other 4400 struggled not to laugh. "You won't see it for a while, but you're here for something. The same as me, and everyone else here tonight."

"When? When do I see it? A few more months? A year? A decade?" Xander demanded.

"Until whenever the reason shows itself," the older man responded simply, as they came to a quiet spot. "Life's all about the journey, after all, not the destination."

"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll find out one day," Xander told the man, as the duo parted company and he went for a walk by himself down to the water's edge.

* * *

A bit later, Cordelia had said farewell to her two friends, as Lily was getting a little too cold for comfort. It was only about 36 degrees out near the base of the mountain, after all.

And Ms. Chase herself had been about to head off to her car – when she felt like she just had to stay there. She didn't know why, and what with being from southern California and all, she really was freezing her ass off here...

But still, Cordy didn't move.

And about five minutes later, as the woman looked down towards the lake – she suddenly knew why.

Xander was looking out over the water, and turned just in time to see a human-shaped missile heading right towards him. Before he even knew what was happening, the man found himself knocked down onto the ground, and his face being showered with kisses.

"Wha-?" he managed to splutter.

"Where the hell have you been?" Xander then heard his dark-haired attacker call out, as her lips finally moved away from his.

Pushing the woman off of him, Xander's eyes went wide. "Cordelia?"

"Well, duh!" the Chase girl said, annoyed. "You know any other woman who would just run up out of nowhere, and start making out with you?" Her voice then grew a bit dark, "And THINK before you answer that!"

"Well, this is only the second time," Xander stuttered, still shocked at her return into his life. "And last time we talked, you ended up getting kind of pissed at me..."

"Oh," Cordelia said, as the duo got up off the ground. "Right, sorry about that. But I've found out some things since then, about what you said that day – and, and if that guy Stein is still alive somewhere? One day, I will personally kick his ass for what he did!"

( _She believes me about that now? Well, good, I guess..._ ) "So then, where does that leave us?" Xander wanted to know, as he started to brush the sand off of him.

"Back together?" Cordy asked lightly.

"Just like that?" Xander demanded, the bad memories from Quarantine suddenly surfacing. "I'm a lousy cheating bastard who lied about your parents, and now suddenly all's forgiven?"

Cordelia looked down. "Xander, you of all people should know how hard it is for me to admit that I'm ever wrong about something...but you were right and I was wrong about that, no doubt about it..."

He just couldn't help it; Xander instantly came over and took her in a light hug. "I always knew our first meeting after you disappeared was going to be hard..." He wiped his eyes a little bit. "I mean, time was – I was damn sure that I'd find you one day as some bloodsucker's main squeeze-"

"Me, a vampire's girlfriend?" Cordy demanded. "Who do I look like, Buffy?"

"You know what I mean, we all thought you'd become a vamp yourself – and you musta heard how it is with that whole vampire sire-childe thing," Xander said softly, not looking her in the eyes. "In Sunnydale, they liked 'em young, especially teenage girls..."

"...who can become, like, totally devoted to their sire," Cordelia remembered from one of their lessons on the undead by Giles. "Xander, come on! Vamped or not, I wouldn't have-"

"Yes you would have, Cordy," Xander told her seriously. "I never kidded myself about that. You should know, I've read how Deadboy toyed with his entire family before he slaughtered them all during the 18th century; and no way was I ever going to allow something like that to happen with you, back in 1999! Not even when your parents made me out to look like Public Enemy Number One, before I disappeared..."

There was a silence for a few moments between them, before Cordelia sighed. "I guess I was the lucky one, huh? I vanished, before everything went to hell for you-"

"Hey, I don't think luck had anything to do with this," Xander said bitterly. "Not a single damn thing, for you, me – or any of The 4400!"

Cordy stepped up to him. "Look, I don't know about that whole abduction stuff, but I know for a fact that I was very lucky about one thing."

"And what was tha-" Xander started to say, before Cordelia took him in a deep, searingly hot kiss.

**

* * *

**

Cleveland, Ohio. The same time

Dawn Summers was reading a book in her room that night, when for some reason she suddenly thought to herself, ( _I wonder what Xander's doing right now?_ )

That was still a very sore subject for her psyche, actually. Because it HURT so much that Harris didn't remember her, and to be honest – it had made Dawn afraid of trying to contact Cordelia Chase personally, as well. To see if she had learned anything new regarding Xander's fate.

Because there was no way the Key ever wanted to risk her former idol, who had helped teach her about the facts of life when she was 11 years old, also saying on the phone, "Dawn who?"

All of a sudden there was a knock on the door, and Faith's voice could be heard, "Hey, D. Can I come in?"

"Sure..."

The second oldest Slayer quickly entered, and shut the door. "How you doing, pipsqueak?"

"I'm NOT a pipsqueak anymore!" Dawn almost shouted, before she saw the telltale grin on the Bostonian's face. She instantly groaned, "Oh God, Faith, don't do that! I'm not a little kid these days..."

"Way you've been acting 'bout X, I'm afraid people 'round here have started to wonder."

That overly-blunt statement did nothing to endear Mrs. Wood to her heart, as Dawn said hotly, "Well, hey, I think I'm entitled to my feelings! How would YOU have liked it, if Xander had come back having no idea who you were?"

Faith grimaced. "Might actually have been preferable..."

Dawn looked at her, and suddenly knew that the rumor which had been circulating lately that she and Xander had once slept together – was all too true. "Oh my God! You two really did it back then!"

Faith grimaced again. "Why don't you say it a bit louder? I don't think they heard you in the kitchen!"

"Sorry," the brunette teenager apologized.

"That's okay, squirt. But you know, at least Robin's been decent about it – thank God. 'Cause I was kinda afraid that he would-"

"File for divorce?" the Key asked cynically. "Come on, Faith! That guy loves you, and everyone knows it. What's the real problem here?"

The dark-haired Slayer glanced at her companion, and eventually decided to confide in the younger girl. "Been contemplating the old days lately. You remember, when I was all evil and willing to do anything the boss asked?"

"I wasn't actually around then," Dawn said forlornly, the bad memories from weeks ago surfacing yet AGAIN. "But yeah, I still remember all that clearly. What about it?"

Faith said slowly, "Been thinkin' about that whole ripple effect thing that Red mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I'm five-by-five with the way things are now – great man, good digs, kick-ass job. But I was wondering – if X had still been around then...how different would my life have turned out?"

Dawn said nothing, her eyes just widened as the Chosen One went on, "Say I had never hit rock bottom like that, if Xander had been there to talk to me when I needed it. Okay, poor old Lester might still be around – but would you guys have still kicked ass on Graduation day, or what?"

The Key shook her head, "I don't know, remember – Buffy had sent me and Mom...no, sorry, just Mom – out of town then..."

"Okay, fine, different example – that late unlamented bitch Glory? If I was still a white hat then, what are the odds those monks might have chosen ME to be your big sister? Or failing that, would Willow and the others have ever resurrected B that night, if it wasn't just the Buffy-bot there guarding the Hellmouth? That whole thing with the First and all the Slayers in the world today, that mighta turned out so damn different..."

Ms. Summers didn't know what to say. But finally she responded, "Look, Faith – we can't know about what-ifs and might-have-beens, no one can. All we can do is the best that's humanly possible, with the cards we've been dealt..." Then her face suddenly got a determined expression, "And you know what? Yes, my memories of him may all be fakes...but damn it, when we find the guy again? I'm going to make some new ones with Xander, that really are real..."

**

* * *

**

Home of Cordelia Chase, Arcadia Estates, Seattle. The next day

The large duplex house appeared to look just like all the others in the rows of homes; for this was the gated community Jordan Collier had recently turned into a safe haven for all of his fellow 4400's.

Primarily because many in this world were starting to react as humans had always done since the beginning of the species, when something different was in their midst. They feared it.

As such, Cordelia and Xander had to go through two checkpoints to get into this neighborhood, and Harris took note of several heavy-duty weapons in one of the guardhouses when they drove past the front gates...

It was not overkill, either. One attack aimed at killing all the 4400 possible, had just been stopped by NTAC a short while ago after all.

But anyway, Harris had expected maybe a late dinner and some serious talking the previous night. Until Cordelia had revealed that she had bought a pack of condoms, when they had stopped for gas on the way back from the mountain...

The young woman had then simply said that she was tired of waiting, and that she just knew that they were destined to be together. And any argument Xander might have had against that was forgotten, the moment she'd dropped her clothes to the floor; just like Anya Jenkins would have done long ago – in a timeline that one of the Powers That Be would have much preferred to bring about.

Right now though, Ms. Chase was lying naked on top of Xander, in her bed, leaning down and nibbling on his right ear. "Oh, God..." she purred. "I swear, I really wish we'd done that a lot sooner!"

"Honestly?" Xander teased, as he tickled her in a very sensitive area.

"Yessss!" Cordy managed to get out, as she batted his hand away. "Because back in my old bedroom, we did just about everything else..."

Xander's answer was stalled, as Cordelia got fully on top of him. She then moaned deeply, as she lowered herself onto her boyfriend. Soon both of them were done with the talking, and were very much into the rhythm of each other's body movements...

But suddenly, something happened that neither of the returnees was even remotely expecting.

Xander's new ability kicked in, without him even knowing it. And he witnessed something else, when he figured out what was happening; whilst before everything and everyone around him slowed down so much they stopped from his point of view, this time – everything EXCEPT Cordelia did so.

She just gripped him tighter, and the young man saw his partner throw her head back in sheer ecstasy. The expression on Ms. Chase's face was one of pure pleasure, too – and it was damned lucky neither of them was a vampire with a soul, as a moment of perfect happiness might also definitely be a factor here...

Sometime later, Cordelia lay panting next to her guy in the bed. "Holy cow, Xander...but that was wayyy better than anything I'd ever dreamed possible!" the brunette girl smiled in dazed contentment. "Tell me that wasn't your 4400 power – and please, promise me that'll happen again every time we have sex?"

"I don't...every time?" Xander asked the sweaty, naked woman beside him. "Cordy, look, I don't know – this has never happened before. I mean, I've never had anyone else come along for the ride with me..."

"Well, believe me, it was worth it!" Cordelia told him happily. "It was like it just went on, and on, and on!"

Xander honestly didn't know what to make of that. His first time with Faith had only lasted seven minutes, and he had later been kicked out of her room in his boxers...but now Cordelia was trying to catch her breath, as she pressed up against him? "Well, uh, guess I did something right then..."

"Right?" Cordelia looked at him like he was crazy. "Xander Harris, if I had any of Oz's old chains that he used for those three nights of the month back in Sunnydale – you wouldn't ever be allowed to leave this bed!"

Xander had no joke or smart remark to respond to that, and he was willing to bet many men wouldn't have. "Ah, well, I do need to get up to get rid of this..." So saying the male teen grabbed the used condom, went into the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet.

Because, while he might have been completely overwhelmed by Cordelia's desires ever since last night, that didn't mean Harris had forgotten all about that damn prophecy either...

Somewhat drained and tired, the young couple were soon sleeping soundly next to one another in Cordy's bedroom. Neither one knowing that another unexpected thing had happened, during their recent lovemaking.

Although condoms are great for birth control with normal people, neither the male nor the female returnee were in fact 'normal' anymore. And when Harris's power had activated itself and encompassed Ms. Chase that way, the massively fast movements that had blurred them to the outside world had also torn open a small hole in the tip of the condom...

And Xander's seed had found plenty of fertile soil, within Cordelia's womb.

Prophecy. It always turns out to be such a complete bitch, whenever someone's determined to get around it...

To Be Concluded in Part 5


	5. Destiny

See Part 1 for Disclaimer and other information. Well, that's it folks; this one's now finished. Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed, your praise has helped immensely; I kid you not! Some people have asked about a sequel - even though I've left it open for one, and I have quite a few ideas based on season 2 of The 4400, it'll probably be a LONG time before I get around to writing it. Sorry, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. So without further ado...

**

* * *

**

Part V: Destiny

**Daycare Center, Seattle, Washington. The next day**

Cordelia walked towards the man and the young child he was talking to, with a determined stride and a frown on her beautiful face.

During the previous day, she and Xander had met with Richard and Lily, who had both been thrilled to learn how the missing member of The 4400 had found his way back into the fold. Xander had been glad to see those two as well, and congratulated them upon entering official coupledom...

But the teenager's good mood had suddenly vanished, upon meeting Jordan Collier.

He didn't understand it, but Harris instinctively knew something was off about that guy, and had kept the bearded man at arm's length the whole time. Richard had noticed it too; his military background being what it was, it had been impossible for him not to. And his concerns about their benefactor had also grown.

Later, when Xander and Cordy had been alone, the former Scooby had also asked about Maia; and upon learning the little girl was now living with Diana Skouris, he'd wanted to meet with her and make sure his young friend was okay.

And since the male returnee was still determined to stay off of official radar, at least for the foreseeable future, Cordelia was acting as his bird dog in this endeavour.

"So tell me, Maia, is there anything I can do for you?" a dark-haired man asked the little blonde girl, as Ms. Chase walked up to them.

The former Queen C cleared her throat. "Maia?"

The child's face lit up with a huge smile, and she quickly ran into the other girl's arms for a huge embrace. "Cordelia!"

The teenage femme fatale enthusiastically hugged her young acquaintance, and then looked over at the man staring at her – who had 'Federal agent' stamped all over his features. "Hey, sweetheart, it's real good to see you again. But um, I need to talk to this guy alone for a sec, okay? You wanna go play on the swings on something, till I can join you?"

"Okay..." Miss Rutledge skipped off, looking as cute and innocent as a child could be.

"Returnee Number 3,156, isn't it? I'm Agent Warren Lyttel, Department of Homeland Security..." Lyttel stopped for a moment, as he noticed her stare. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah. You could say that," the Queen of Mean was directing her most hostile stare at the man.

"What is it, and how can I help?"

Cordelia walked forward. "First off, I have a name; so use it! I'm a human being with rights, just like you, and not some commodity with an ID number you might think you can control – in the name of national security, or whatever the in-phrase is now. We clear about that, you J. Edgar Hoover wannabe?"

Lyttel wasn't at all fazed by her attitude...yet. "Crystal."

"And secondly, I couldn't help noticing Maia wasn't happy about you being here and interrogating her like that. That's why I think you should go, right the hell now!"

Warren shook his head, "Sorry. But I'm afraid that's really not your call-"

"I'm MAKING it my call! Hey, how'd you like it if I went down to NTAC headquarters right now, and filed a complaint against you? Because something like a child harassment charge on your permanent record, that wouldn't look too good – especially when you're going for a promotion in the future. Would it?"

Lyttel's calm exterior started to crack. "I think you should leave. Now."

Cordelia just smiled, the same kind of cruel smile that used to send the ugly and unfashionable running for their lives during high school. She got right into the agent's face, "And I say, make me!"

There was tense face-off; and in response to a sudden move on Cordy's part, Lyttel started to whip his gun out. But moving like a snake, Ms. Chase grabbed hold of the weapon as he held it, and used her power to instantly deep-freeze the Glock 9mm.

Lyttel let go of the firearm with a yelp, the cold almost giving him frostbite, and it fell to the ground; where the weapon instantly shattered into a million pieces.

"Tsk, tsk. Pointing a gun at an unarmed woman? That probably wouldn't look too good on your record either," Cordy smirked, before she growled, "Want to see what'll happen, if I put my hands on your head? Now BEAT IT!"

The unpleasant yet very ambitious HomeSec agent quickly backed away, his eyes full of...something, before he turned around and left. Cordelia just dismissed Lyttel from her mind, and quickly phoned Xander on her cell to give him the all-clear, before she rejoined Maia.

And when Harris finally showed up at the swings, Maia was ecstatic. "Xander! You're back!"

The former Sunnydale native hugged his young friend intensely, having missed her a lot more than he had expected. "It's darn good to see you too, kiddo. How ya been, anyway?"

"Okay, Diana's been good to me. I'm hoping she'll become my new mommy one day..."

Xander smiled, "Well, if you're happy, then I'm happy. So, what about everything else?"

"Some of the clothes look funny. And the cars. But I don't know, video games are kind of fun..."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure Xander knows all about that!" Cordelia interjected with a smirk. "In the old days, those things and comic books were like an obsession with him!"

"HEY!" Harris cried out. "You're supposed to be on my side, now that we're back together..."

Maia was still up in Xander's arms, as she turned around to look at Cordelia. "You mean, you guys are back to like kissing and groping each other all the time? Gross..."

Both teenagers chuckled before the female one said, "Honey, trust me – in seven or eight years, you won't be thinking that at all!"

The little girl just made a face, as Xander let her down. But Maia suddenly became very solemn as she said to her friends, "I need to tell you two something."

Xander and Cordy briefly stared at each other, knowing this was serious. Harris asked the precognitive little girl, "What is it, Maia?"

"Highland Beach, tonight – Xander, you've got to be there. Agent Baldwin's son, Kyle; he's the answer. He can tell you what you need to know."

"What I need to know?" he echoed in confusion.

"What's this about?" Cordelia asked.

"That's all I can tell you..." Maia suddenly turned around. "You have to go now, Diana's coming. And Xander, you can't let them take you back to Quarantine-"

Spying the NTAC agent in question, Cordelia took charge and quickly dragged her boyfriend away, before he could ask any further questions.

**

* * *

**

Highland Beach, Washington. Later that night

It all seemed to just totally spiral out of control from that moment on.

When they got back to the Arcadia Estates housing complex, Xander and Cordelia had found that Lily and Richard had just up and disappeared, with no warning or note. And when Ms. Chase had asked Collier what the hell had happened, his vague reply had really started setting off alarm bells in Xander's mind – and he'd quickly dragged his girlfriend out of there, telling the millionaire they had a prior appointment elsewhere.

And when they'd arrived at the beach that night, the two found a regular convention of Federal agents rolling up at the same time. Then as they got out of Cordelia's BMW, a brilliant blue-white light seemed erupt skywards out of nowhere; and following it to the source, Xander and Cordy found Tom and Kyle slowly rotating in the column of light.

Now as had been said earlier, Kyle Baldwin had been in a coma for three years, from the moment his cousin Shawn had disappeared during the April of 2001. But the 4400 healer in question had recently brought the young man out of it...

And yet, since then, Kyle Baldwin had started claiming that he wasn't Kyle Baldwin. And he had brought Tom and Diana here tonight, as though he'd known what was going to happen – after the two agents had rescued the guy from Lyttel's little prison enclosure.

Xander looked at Cordelia and said, "This is where Maia said we had to be. Look, stay here, I'll be back-"

"Are you nuts? I'm coming with you!" the girl said vehemently at once.

"Cor, I love you and all for the attitude, but think for a second! There are a lot of heavily-armed guys over there who probably don't have a clue what's going on, and so might have developed an itchy trigger finger. And I'm fast enough to dodge a speeding bullet, but you're not! You see where I'm going with this?"

Cordy didn't like it, but had to bow to her boyfriend's logic. "Promise me you'll be careful, okay? I just got you back, and I don't want to lose you again!"

Harris just smiled and kissed her, like he had at Buffy's party six years ago; when all this had really begun. "Promise." And with that, he was gone in a blur of motion.

A short distance away, Diana had finished explaining what had happened to Ryland and Lyttel, and was about to touch the white light encompassing Tom and Kyle; when a Xander-shaped blur came rushing past her, and passed through the barrier with effortless ease.

As a result of this Xander took Tom's place in the column of light, appearing frozen to the outside world, as the NTAC agents rushed over to pick up their fallen comrade.

"Tom! Are you okay?" Diana demanded, as the woman started to examine him for any injuries.

"Yeah, yeah..." Baldwin said, annoyed by the fuss. "But, uh, what happened? One moment, I was talking to that guy – the next, I'm out here?"

"What guy?" Lyttel demanded at once.

"Do you mean Kyle, Tom?" Ryland asked. "And what did you learn in there, anyway?"

Baldwin hesitated. This conversation was going to be a tough one; because how DO you tell everyone that, no joke, the end of the world is nigh?

* * *

As Xander blinked, he found himself standing by the water in the daylight. "What's going on-?"

"Greetings, Defender of Mankind."

Harris turned around to look at his companion, who had spoken with the slightly reverberating voice. "Who are you?"

The future human, who was wearing the image of Kyle Baldwin, said simply, "My name is unimportant. I'm human, though. Like you."

Xander shook his head. "Nope, sorry. But these days, I'm pretty sure you're nothing like me-"

His companion replied, "I come from a different time. That is all. Your future."

The young man suddenly had an epiphany. "You're the one of those responsible for all this, aren't you? You're one of the BASTARDS who stole my life, Cordy's and the rest of The 4400! WHY DID YOU-?"

The future human cut him off at once, "It was necessary. You were all needed."

"For what?" Harris demanded.

"For the survival of the species. Because in my time, humanity is dying out."

Suddenly all the anger left him, as Xander processed that. Instantly shifting into 'end of the world' mode, the man asked urgently, "You mean, it's all gonna end? Some demon finally gets lucky, and the apocalypse happens?"

"Not in the way you think. Details aside, only those we took could prevent The Catastrophe from happening. That is why you were all changed and then sent back into this world, the way you are today."

This was almost too much for Xander to take in, but there was one question that he suddenly had to ask above all others. "Why here? Why now?"

The future human said simply, "Because history tells us, this is where the path to oblivion began."

Xander suddenly thought about the lost remains of the town he had been born in. "Wait – does this have anything to do with what happened in Sunnydale, last year?"

"No. It was Los Angeles – six months ago..."

Knowing nothing as yet of Angel's showdown against the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart, and the Circle of The Black Thorn, Harris then asked, "Okay, but why me? And why Cordy?"

"You are both unique, in your own way. Free will is your ally, which made you both dangerous. Because of this, history records that circumstances were engineered such that you would have died in Africa, six months past. And your companion, too, would have died elsewhere nearly a year ago."

That was a LOT to deal with, instantly reminding him of what Drusilla had rambled on about weeks ago in Spokane, but finally Xander murmured, "So...what are we supposed to do now? How do we stop this catastrophe of yours?"

The image of Kyle Baldwin responded, "You, personally? You must protect the children, until they come of age. Your own child, and one other. All the rest of those that we chose, they have already begun their work. Just as Tom has already begun his."

( _Oh, man, so there's no doubt about it – I really am gonna become a dad? Jeez, how the hell then do I prevent myself from turning into my father?_ ) "Tom?" Xander asked, not wanting to think about that part of it right now.

"Agent Baldwin. From the beginning, he was meant to help all of you-"

Then the future human stopped, as a large red dot appeared on his chest. "You're bleeding-" Xander said in surprise, as the column of light suddenly vanished and day became night once more.

He blinked and looked around, and the former Slayerette saw men with guns pointed right at him. So Xander didn't bother to ask questions, as Diana shouted for someone to call an ambulance and Tom started to cradle his dying son's body on the ground...

Able to control his power much better now, Harris just blurred and vanished, only briefly pausing to grab Cordelia along the way.

**

* * *

**

Department Of Homeland Security, Seattle, Washington. Later that night

Tom Baldwin shoved Warren Lyttel up against the wall, a furious expression on his face. "You shot my son, you son of a bitch! Give me one good reason not to return the favour!" the agent hissed in a deadly rage.

It had indeed been Warren's bullet that had killed the future human – just after Diana had been repelled off the light barrier, in an attempt to get Xander out of there. Lyttel just looked at the other man in the office, "Ryland? You wanna give me some help?"

Dennis just smirked a little. "It's a tough call..." Then he sighed, "All right, Tom, let him go. And tell me, how's Kyle?"

Agent Baldwin abruptly released Lyttel, and glared before he turned around to face his boss. "Fine, no thanks to John Wayne here! NTAC Medical has cleared him. Whatever really happened a few hours ago, Kyle's come out of it without even a scratch. Even if he doesn't remember anything, ever since he woke up from the coma..."

"Okay. Now, think – can you remember anything else that that...person...might have mentioned to you?" Ryland asked hopefully.

"NO! I told you, all I know is it wasn't aliens, after all – the world's gonna end in the future, so The 4400 were taken and then sent back to somehow prevent that from happening! And supposedly, I've been chosen to help them..." Tom finished up with a look of disbelief.

"How, precisely?" Lyttel didn't exactly sneer, but the implication was unmistakeable.

The NTAC agent glared at his nemesis again, "I don't know! Harris somehow shoved me out of there, before I could find out. I know, why don't we ask him? Oh, gee, that's right – he left after you started shooting up the neighborhood for no good reason, and now I bet you that that kid thinks we're the enemy – who wants to kill him!"

"Tom! Enough. Look, I want you to start organizing a nationwide manhunt for our missing returnee – there's no telling just WHAT he learned, when he took your place in that...information booth. And we need him alive to talk to us, so no police APB – there's no reason to risk Alexander Harris getting shot on sight. But make sure everyone knows he's to be taken into custody, the moment he's found," Ryland ordered.

Baldwin nodded, then appeared to think of something. "How the hell is anyone supposed to stop him, though, if they do recognize Harris on the street? Given what we've seen he can do?"

"The theory room people, they'll think of something..." And after Tom left, Lyttel was about to leave as well when Ryland said, "Where do you think you're going?"

Warren looked around in surprise. "To help coordinate the search-"

"I sure as hell don't think so."

Ryland gestured towards a piece of paper on his desk, "My report to Washington tomorrow will state how you not only recklessly endangered the lives of two civilians – you also needlessly cost us the most valuable source of intel we've come across so far, on what the purpose of The 4400 really is."

And then, Ryland openly grinned at the opportunity fate had thrown his way. "Bottom line, Agent Lyttel – I'm going to have your badge for this..."

The younger man merely glared at Dennis in impotent fury, before storming out of the office.

**

* * *

**

Tacoma, Washington. Late December, 2004

The vampires named Angel and Spike moved silently, and invisibly amongst the shadows.

Ever since that unpleasant business seven months ago in LA, where all the rest of their crew had been lost, one way or another – Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, Charles Gunn, the Old One named Illyria, and even the anagogic demon named Lorne – this was the first time these two had met up again after the battle to the death in that alleyway.

Angel had gone to Romania afterwards, wanting to forget about everything for a while; while Spike had gotten homesick for Merrie Olde England, of all things.

But destiny had had other plans for them.

Angel nodded to Spike, and the attack began.

It was a desperate mission that a warlock in Romania had sent the former Champion and his grandchilde upon; to find and talk to their former acquaintance, the woman named Eve.

The same Eve who had ordered Xander's death, months ago. The woman who the mage had said knew vital information, which the two vampires had to learn – if the end of the world was to be avoided.

The undead duo were soon enough drenched in blood and gore, as all the demons in their way did not take kindly to trespassers. Still, in spite of everything the enemy could throw at them, William the Bloody and the former Angelus finally got to their destination.

And what they saw there, was enough to sicken even them.

Eve had been brutally tortured for perceived betrayal and actual incompetence, her elegant beauty having long since vanished. Her body was an emaciated wreck, and the rags she wore that could only loosely be called clothing – they were filthy, and smelled absolutely foul. She looked to be on the edge of death; but not quite there, yet.

"Angel?" the woman croaked, her voice sounding hoarse from all the screams of pain.

"Hold on, Eve, we'll get you out of here-" the Irish-born vampire said as he grabbed hold of her chains, taking no pleasure at seeing his former lover and betrayer reduced to this pitiful state.

"No...time," Eve whispered, her strength ebbing fast. "Find..."

"Find who, luv?" Spike demanded, as he headed over towards the door, to hold it against the tide of reinforcements the Senior Partners were attempting to get into the room.

"Find her..." the former liaison wheezed. "Cordelia Chase...your shanshu, Angel. Harris has her-"

"Eve? EVE!" Angel suddenly shouted, even as his demon senses told him the human woman had just died.

"Damn it, mate – come on! We gotta get outta here!" the blonde-haired vamp shouted at his grandsire, coming over and pulling him away from the corpse.

A great deal of killing and running later (and something which neither vampire regretted in the least) the two men finally rested not far from Sunset Beach, and began to talk about what had just happened.

"Bloody hell, Peaches. Haven't been in a fight like that, ever since LA! So what did that bloody bint say before she croaked, anyway?" Spike asked.

Angel was too tired to take offence over the name-calling, at this point. "We gotta find someone called Cordelia Chase, something about my shanshu-"

"Who? And thought you signed that away, didn't ya?" Spike looked confused.

"I did," Angel shrugged, remembering his last encounter with the Circle of the Black Thorn. Then the 251-year-old vampire frowned, as he also recalled a conversation he'd once had with the deceased silver-colored demon named Skip...

Something about how in his employer's original plan the former cheerleader would have been the seer of choice, for all of Angel's years in Los Angeles. And that things would have turned out differently, if the girl hadn't vanished way back when.

Temptation and the hope of still becoming human one day thus began to be born again in his heart as Angel said, "I don't get it – but we need to find her, bottom line. You remember someone called Xander Harris? She's with him, apparently..."

In this world Spike had only vague memories of the guy in question, and in fact best remembered the teen merely as a snack that Angel had once offered during Parent-Teacher Night – over seven years ago, in Sunnydale. "Heard about him on the telly, few months back. And that idiot's one of them 4400 wankers, isn't he?"

"Yeah..." Angel ruminated, having no affection in his heart for his former Sunnydale acquaintance either. "Which almost certainly means government intervention. Those NTAC people will probably be looking for him as well..."

Spike quickly shook off the bad memories of being chipped for years by the Initiative. "Guess that means we'll need reinforcements, then?"

The former Scourge of Europe sighed. Or at least he appeared to, anyway. "Yeah, guess so. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Cleveland," both vamps said at the same time. And both of them thinking of their one and only shared ex-girlfriend. ( _Buffy..._ )

**

* * *

**

Cleveland, Ohio. January 19th, 2005

Hard as it was to believe for some people, Buffy Summers was enjoying a normal birthday party.

All of her friends were present, and there was currently no end-of-the-world emergency happening. Not to mention, there was no box containing a demon's arm anywhere in sight.

No Cruciamentum ritual taking place.

No Giles demon anywhere in the vicinity.

No sign of Dawn cutting herself, to prove that she was a real human being.

No vengeance demon, imprisoning them all inside the building.

No First Evil, pretending to be a potential Slayer...

This long tradition of Buffy birthday disasters had in fact ended in Italy last year, when she and her little sister had spent the evening alone with presents; no one else being able to make it to the festive occasion. Since not only were they all in different countries at the time, the gang had been far too busy finding newly-called Slayers, and trying to rebuild the Council into some semblance of what it had once been.

This year, Buffy was hoping to be able to continue the Roman 'no catastrophe on her birthday' precedent of 2004. And yet, the blonde-haired woman suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, as her Slayersense went absolutely crazy...

And sure enough, Giles arrived to give her the bad news.

"Buffy, it's Angel and Spike. They just showed up at the front gates of the school – and, and there was a horde of demons after them, of all things. Luckily, all the Slayers on duty managed to take care of them – oh, um, and Angel and Spike want to talk to you. It's got something to do with Xander, apparently..."

( _Xander? Oh, I can already tell – this isn't gonna end well! And one day I'm gonna take Spike's advice from back then, and simply not celebrate a birthday!_ ) "Fine, invite them in. And gather the rest of the gang together, too; we may as well all hear what it is they have to say at once..."

**

* * *

**

Somewhere in the woods. May, 2005

The rural and isolated cabin housed four inhabitants; Richard and Lily Tyler, and Alexander and Cordelia Harris.

After that night six months ago, the two teenagers had headed back to Cordy's home, packed her things and promptly disappeared. The risks of sticking around were obviously just too great, now that Homeland Security knew that Xander wasn't missing and presumed killed anymore – and Cordelia had given Agent Lyttel a clear demonstration of what she could really do, too...

And eventually, they had found their friends again with the use of a witch's locator spell, Cordelia having in her possession a few borrowed items from Lily in order to accomplish that – since Xander had figured that Lily's baby was the other child he was supposed to watch out for.

All four of them had then sat down and talked, telling each other all their secrets. How Richard and Lily had discovered that he was the father of her unborn child, and how Jordan had first tried to split them up and then prevent them from leaving town...

Not to mention how Cordelia was pregnant as well, thanks to that faulty condom. And that either way, the baby she was carrying had one terrifying destiny that Xander had FINALLY revealed to her – after she'd told him that she now had a bun in the oven.

Suddenly Lily groaned, as she sat on her bed. "The baby..."

Cordy, who was six months gone herself, suddenly felt her son kicking. "Same here!"

Richard and Xander, who had been tending the fire in the fireplace, glanced at each other. "It's time? I'll get the car," Tyler said, after doing the math and getting up.

"I'll get her luggage," Xander offered.

"Now don't forget – you'll need to stay out of sight, when we get to the maternity ward," Cordelia reminded her husband, as she got up from her chair with a groan.

The Xander Harris that she smiled at so fondly certainly looked quite different to the photo of the youth the DHS was quietly searching for – actually, with the moustache and goatee he'd grown over the course of the past several months, Cordy thought he looked quite debonair – because there was no way the group wanted to take any chances of him being identified by the authorities.

"Not a problem," Xander reassured her, as he immediately rushed over to steady the young woman. "Because, hey, I have no intention of being separated from you again anytime soon, sweetheart..."

Not long afterwards, their car started speeding down the road towards the local hospital. And Xander alone in the back seat, noted with wonder as how the trees lining the road were bowing in deference, as the vehicle passed them by – heralding the birth of something new, under the sun.

Two children that would grow up to be very important to the fate of the world. Children that were in fact going to have a very short childhood, and be more vital to the future than any Slayer could ever possibly be.

The journey of these four people in the car, these members of The 4400, truly had begun. The only question was...how would it truly conclude?

THE END...for now.

Hope you liked it! All writers love feedback, so please e-mail me at: theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au


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